Sidney Crosby was evaluated by a doctor during the first intermission of Monday's Game 6 after a dangerous collision in the final minutes of the opening period. It was then decided he didn't need to go through concussion protocol, the Pittsburgh Penguins captain revealed after practice Tuesday, according to the Washington Post's Jesse Dougherty.

Crosby went headfirst into the boards with 2:15 left to play in the first, and considering both the fact he missed Game 4 due to concussion and his head-injury history, the hockey world lost its collective you know what after he wasn't immediately pulled by the league's concussion spotters.

The play remained the talk of the hockey world Tuesday, after NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said the collision wasn't grounds for Crosby's mandatory removal because he hit the boards, and not the ice. In other words, concussion spotters didn't have the authority to call him off the ice, because the NHL's studies have shown that ice "has been found to be a predictor of concussions," while boards have not been.

Complicating matters further: Head coach Mike Sullivan wouldn't go into much detail about Crosby after his team's loss, stating only that he wasn't evaluated for a concussion. Sullivan could have put a lot of people at ease had he at least said his captain was looked at by a doctor.

Crosby called the collision "pretty standard," saying he simply had the wind knocked out of him.

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