Crosby was 'irritated' by Subban's bad-breath comments in 2017 playoffs

Although then-Nashville Predators defenseman P.K. Subban said Sidney Crosby told him his breath smelled bad during the 2017 Stanley Cup Final, it was Crosby who was left with a bad taste in his mouth.

The Pittsburgh Penguins superstar recently admitted to being bothered by Subban's accusation following the Predators' Game 3 win.

"Yeah, I was a little irritated by it," Crosby said on Barstool Sports' "Spittin' Chiclets" podcast. "I mean, I think you could tell at the time when I was doing the interviews. It was just the last thing I wanted to be talking about. But I mean, maybe that was part of it.

"(Subban) had said something to (Jake Guentzel while) leaving the ice, and I just went to kind of get in the middle and try to break them up. He kind of kept saying stuff, and him and I went at it. Nothing was said even remotely close to that, but then to read that after, it was like, 'Oh, OK, I'm going to have to answer (questions) about this.'"

Crosby, at the time, denied making fun of Subban's breath. In February 2018 of the following season, the blue-liner admitted to making the whole thing up.

The Penguins defeated the Predators in six games in 2017 to give Crosby his third career Stanley Cup victory. Now Crosby, who recently turned 32, acknowledges Subban's comments were mere mind games.

"He still jokes about it - we were just at the awards and he was still joking around about it. I mean, it is what it is. … That's just mind games, it's nothing. Me and him had some good run-ins throughout the whole series, I was playing a lot against him. I don't have anything against him for that. I just was kind of annoyed that I had to answer about it."