PITTSBURGH — Sidney Crosby rarely turns down an interview request, and the 18-year-old rookie phenom is always polite and accommodating with the media.

Yet even he became a bit aggravated when he was asked again Thursday if he's a marked man in the NHL.

"I think it's kind of getting old talking about it, to be honest with you," Crosby said of an alleged slight against him by officials and other teams. "It's something where we just have to play hockey and not worry about the officials, who we have total confidence in."

Crosby was at the center of a controversy Tuesday night when he was the target of an apparent knee-on-knee hit by the Ottawa Senators' Andrej Meszaros late in the third period of the Senators' 5-2 victory.

Crosby might not be eager to talk about it, but it was a heavy topic of conversation among his teammates.

Winger Tomas Surovy, a player not known for physical play, immediately attacked Meszaros and received a fighting major.

The game also included defenseman Eric Cairns being assessed 40 penalty minutes for a spearing incident involving Zdeno Chara at the end of the second period. On Thursday, the NHL suspended Cairns for three games without pay for the incident.

"It's good to see guys sticking up for one another," said defenseman Brooks Orpik, one of the team's more physical players. "Everyone gets along in this room, and if you see one of our guys take a cheap shot, we will go after him."

Now a team with a dearth of veterans and the worst record in the league, the young Penguins are at least developing a chemistry together, said Michel Therrien, who took over as coach in December.

"I've been saying for the past two months that I could see the team sticking together more," Therrien said. "We're going in the right direction with this team and that's part of it. I like the atmosphere with the team. The team spirit is there."

Crosby is third on the team in penalty minutes with 94. He has been called several times for unsportsmanlike conduct for arguing with officials, erroneously accused of diving by opponents, and has developed a reputation — deserved or not — as a player who whines too much to the officials.

"He's going to be targeted just with who he is," Orpik said. "You have to earn the respect of your peers around the league when you're that young. He's awfully mature for his age, but at the same time, he's 18. He's done a great job with it, but I think anyone in his position at that age would get frustrated at times. He's only going to learn from it."

Notes: Ryan Whitney, who missed the past two games with a strained neck sustained in Saturday's game against Montreal, said he felt good in practice and will play tonight. ... Defenseman Alain Nasreddine has been reassigned to the Penguins' American Hockey League affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. ... The Penguins have recalled center Shane Endicott from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.