The Flames are out but I’m still watching NHL playoffs, especially with a bunch of games going to game seven and/or overtime which is always exciting.
But I don’t think I’ve ever seen a sequence like the one that happened last night – Vegas Golden Knights leading the San Jose Sharks 3-0 with about ten minutes left in the third period. Normally, that’s game over. But after a post-faceoff cross-check puts the Shark captain off-balance and then a different Knight collides with him, leading to a freak injury for the Sharks’ captain, the Knights player who gave the initial cross-check gets a 5-minute major and is tossed from the game.
In the ensuing power play, the Sharks rally to score a record-tying FOUR powerplay goals on one penalty not only catching the Knights but passing them.
There’s now maybe four or five minutes left but after a near total collapse, the Knights press back. Finally, with less than a minute remaining, the Knights score to tie the game which leads to overtime.
Then, after an edge-of-your-seat, back-and-forth overtime, just as the extra period is nearing its end, an unheralded Sharks player who’s not played much so still has fuel in his tank, takes a pass and skates in to score and win the game.
Immediately there was lots of controversy about the penalty call – was it a reactionary call because of the injury? Do refs “manage” the game with how they choose to call/not call penalties (that post-face-off cross-check is a common move and it was only because of the injury that the major was assessed. And does it matter that the cross check didn’t directly cause the injury, only indirectly? On some level, did the refs think a harsher penalty would help control a heated game where the Sharks captain was just taken off injured? And that it wouldn’t have such a significant outcome since it’s still incredibly rare to score 3+ powerplay goals on a 5-minute power play. Put it this way – the average team scores on about 20% of their power plays, the Sharks scored at an 80% rate on this single power play.) And ultimately, can any series hinge so much on one play or one penalty? The Knights have to own that they collapsed – letting in so many goals but also letting go of a 3-1 lead in the series generally plus they didn’t capitalize on a (make-up?) call that put them on the power play late in the game, let alone score in overtime?
For me, I think the ultimate issue is that refs in the NHL are as inconsistent as in any sport in the world. Rules are applied differently at the start and end of the season and at the start and end of the game, they’re applied different in regular time and overtime, they’re applied differently if players are injured or not (that’s probably understandable to some degree), they seem to be applied differently depending on which teams are playing or sometimes which players are involved (“reputation” calls). And most egregiously, there appears to be a different set of rules in the regular season and playoffs where hockey’s old-school, conservative culture demands that refs “let them play” and so players can slash, hack, trip, punch and yes, cross-check, with very little risk of being penalized.
Anyhow, watch this…
…and here’s some commentary by The Hockey Guy:
Finally, this…
Comments 2