a knee-to-knee hit Jan. 6 that sidelined Penguins center Jordan Staal for five weeks.Tortorella's comments came only a few days after Flyers coach Peter Laviolette and assistant coach Craig Berube also chastised the Penguins, partly for center Joe Vitale's clean but punishing hit that leveled forward Danny Briere on Sunday."Crosby and Malkin are the dirtiest players on their hockey team," Berube told Comcast SportsNet in Philadelphia. "They slash, they punch guys in the face -- they do all these little things."With the Penguins set to meet the Flyers in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals starting next week -- and the Rangers a possible opponent should Pittsburgh advance -- Crosby said the rival teams simply are engaging in pre-playoffs politicking.NHL INSIDERTortorella rips Pens for hit on StepanBy Alan Robinson - NHL.com CorrespondentRangers coach John Tortorella turned his anger on the Penguins franchise after Brooks Orpik dropped New York center Derek Stepan with a knee-to-knee hit. READ MORE › Sabres deal with disappointment of missing playoffs PHI-PIT rivalry intensifies with Berube comments Muller already sees progress out of CanesMORE NHL INSIDER STORIES ›"I don't know where all of this [gamesmanship] started, if this is part of the new tactics in the playoffs, but it's garbage," Crosby said. "The games are played on the ice. You get all of this stuff going on and it really is garbage. It's nonsense and if they want to do it, great, but I'm not going to waste my time answering questions about it all the time. It's getting pretty old."Crosby added, "If anything they are trying to persuade the officials who are not making calls and second-guessing things. I hope it doesn't affect us. I really hope they aren't listening to that crap because it's nonsense. They are trying every which way to gain an advantage. Go ahead, try it, but we're not paying a lot of attention to it. It's just old."Crosby said he's learned it doesn't do any good to argue penalties at length because the referees don't alter calls. He said,Stan Mikita Jersey, "I think after a while you learn it's a waste of your energy. It doesn't help anything.""That's all it is, gamesmanship. They're trying to have an effect where I don't think they can have an effect," Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said.Crosby agrees he yapped to the officials too much when he broke into the League at age 18 in 2005, but he said he has matured since then."It's coming out of Philly,Dustin Byfuglien Authentic Jersey, which it has been coming out of for seven years since I've been in the League," he said. "I'll be the first one to admit that my first couple of years I was pretty hard on the refs. I've come a long way since then. I'm nowhere near what I was then and to get those kind of remarks every day is uncalled for and not warranted."The Flyers,Tony Esposito Jersey, 5-0 at Consol Energy Center, return there Saturday for the second time in seven days to play an effectively meaningless game since the Penguins are locked into the fourth s