P.K. Subban arrives for Game 4 carrying bag of Listerine (Video)

Nashville Predators defenseman P.K. Subban does pushups during practice. (Mark Humphrey/AP)
Nashville Predators defenseman P.K. Subban does pushups during practice. (Mark Humphrey/AP)

After being accused by P.K. Subban of chirping his bad breath at the end of Game 3, Sidney Crosby said the Predators star made it up because he “likes the attention.”

He might have a point.

Subban arrived to Bridgestone Arena on Monday carrying a bag of Listerine mouthwash, which he said he used prior to Game 3 when defending his breath post-game with NBCSN’s Pierre McGuire.

You have to respect Subban’s commitment to gamesmanship, even though he’s bound to catch flack from some for not having his head in the game. This is part of what makes Subban such an appealing person — he likes to have fun, even when the stakes are the highest.

The biggest winner in all of this is Listerine, which joined in on the fun Monday evening after being deafeningly quiet about the whole thing up until this point.

They’ve got a star player on the sport’s biggest stage name-dropping their brand on television. They’ve even got fans holding up cardboard cutouts of their product, and given Nashville’s propensity for throwing things, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a tiny turquoise bottle on the ice Monday night.

And considering Listerine’s current campaign is about being bold, they really couldn’t have asked for a better spokesperson than Subban.