Penguins captain and leading scorer Sidney Crosby seems resigned to the fact that he is going to have to deal with groin problems from time to time.

“I’ve tried everything. This is the way it is,” Crosby said yesterday after it was determined he should sit out last night’s game against Chicago at Mellon Arena because of groin soreness, something that has been a recurring problem throughout his career.

Most recently before this incident, he missed four games late last season.

“As hockey players, we always have groin pain or your hips are sore,” Crosby said. “But for whatever reason, I’ve kind of had to deal with this. Trust me, I don’t like missing games. I work really hard to not have it happen.”

What was the most striking thing about the Penguins’ 5-2 victory at Madison Square Garden Monday night?

Was it that Sidney Crosby scored two goals and set up another?

Hardly. Crosby’s history suggests that he should be penciled in for a couple of points — minimum — anytime he’s facing New York. And he’d just scored three against the Rangers 48 hours earlier.

Was it Mike Rupp’s hat trick?

Well, that’s closer. After all, he hadn’t gotten one in his previous 362 NHL games, and the three goals he scored against the Rangers pushed his total for the season to eight, two more than he’d put up in any season since breaking into the NHL in 2002-03.

The Penguins, playing without captain and leading scorer Sidney Crosby, fell, 2-1, in overtime against the Chicago Blackhawks tonight at Mellon Arena.

Kris Versteeg got the winner from just in front of the net at 2:38 of overtime.

Crosby missed his first game of the season because of a groin injury.