The Official NHL 2020-2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs Thread

[kehlis]

Re: The Official NHL 2020-2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs Thread

The ice in Colorado is not in great shape tonight.

[Kobalt]

Re: The Official NHL 2020-2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs Thread

Bednar does a lot of good things but in-game adjustments aren't one.

Refs not calling legit penalties during regulation and calls a soft one in OT, typical of NHL refs.

[l3ulvl]

Re: The Official NHL 2020-2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs Thread

The ice in Colorado is not in great shape tonight.

I saw they had to bring the sweep crew out at the start of OT


also, as much as I dislike Colorado in general, just as an old Wings guy, they really dominated that PP in OT

[Money99]

Re: The Official NHL 2020-2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs Thread

Just because you can hit someone, doesn’t mean you should. That’s the type of hit reserved for a video game. Evans looked predictably lifeless before he even hit the ice, hope he recovers...

I'm honestly confused about this hit.
The league has a history of letting hits like this go.
Heck, Parros didn't even want to give Wilson a fine for his hit on Carlo and that was worse than this IMO.

If I'm breaking it down as a hockey play, Evans had his head down and was about to score an empty net goal in a 1-goal game with a minute left.
Scheifele had no play but to hit him. He stopped skating after he got to the top of the circles and then put his shoulder into him without jumping.
Isn't that a legal hit?

Don't get me wrong. I want hits like this out of all levels of hockey. Knowing what we know about CTE, brain trauma and the like, we need to get these hits out of the game.
But if we look purely at the NHL, what kind of violence it tolerates and how it's handled hits like this in the past, I don't see this as a bad hit.

I also think this hit likely doesn't happen if the refs took control of the game earlier.
Scheifele had been getting abused the entire evening. Heck, he was put in a headlock by Chiarot and HE was the one who got a penalty for it.
The NHL also has this hilarious M.O. of disciplining based on results, not intent.
In the NHL world, if I shoot an AR-15 into a crowded mall but don't hit anyone, no harm, no foul.
If Evans pops up, nobody is talking about this hit.

Once again, the NHL and it's insistence on making the rule book a list of suggestions rather than black-and-white rules has resulted in a potential injury and future retribution and violence.
The league salivates at the though of players playing on the edge, but then expects these humans to understand not to cross the line - a line of which nobody provided a map so they know where it lies. It changes game to game and even shift to shift.

But then again, this is a league which employs Colin Campbell.
The same man who sent an email to Gary Bettman admitting that the league sells violence.
The same man who once emailed the leagues officials telling them to stop calling penalties on his sons team and his son specifically. And they continued to employ him after this evidence was discovered.

So in the end, this hit is completely on brand for the NHL.

[ImTellinTim]

Re: The Official NHL 2020-2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs Thread

The onus is on the player to not make primary contact with a guy’s face at full speed. Period. He could have done many things other than that. It doesn’t matter if the guy’s head is down or whatever other dumb hockey excuses people will come up with. He made absolutely no effort to avoid that outcome.

[slickdtc]

Re: The Official NHL 2020-2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs Thread

The form of the hit was legal, I believe. Dirty but legal, if that makes sense. That’s why I said just because you can doesn’t mean you should. He didn’t play the puck at all either. It was targeting. You’ve got to try to make us believe!

I do agree the inconsistency of officiating and the competing messages of play safe but play to the whistle make it a line that is blurry and severity of reaction will stem from severity of injury.

I don’t think we’ll ever rid ourselves of plays like this. But it’s why the league should come down hard on it, even if the next time they don’t or the last time they didn’t.

And I hate that now the series will have this sideshow narrative on who has to stand for the hit if he’s suspended.

[Money99]

Re: The Official NHL 2020-2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs Thread

The onus is on the player to not make primary contact with a guy’s face at full speed. Period. He could have done many things other than that. It doesn’t matter if the guy’s head is down or whatever other dumb hockey excuses people will come up with. He made absolutely no effort to avoid that outcome.

I 100% agree. I'm just saying, thru the lens of the NHL, that's a hit they want in the game.
And the league officials absolutely love that the reason he did it was out of anger and vengeance.

The form of the hit was legal, I believe. Dirty but legal, if that makes sense. That’s why I said just because you can doesn’t mean you should. He didn’t play the puck at all either. It was targeting. You’ve got to try to make us believe!

I do agree the inconsistency of officiating and the competing messages of play safe but play to the whistle make it a line that is blurry and severity of reaction will stem from severity of injury.

I don’t think we’ll ever rid ourselves of plays like this. But it’s why the league should come down hard on it, even if the next time they don’t or the last time they didn’t.

And I hate that now the series will have this sideshow narrative on who has to stand for the hit if he’s suspended.

Technically the hit was illegal:

Rule 42 of the NHL rulebook dictates that charging "shall mean the actions of a player or goalkeeper who, as a result of distance traveled, shall violently check an opponent in any manner. A 'charge' may be the result of a check into the boards, into the goal frame or in open ice."

But this is the NHL where every rule except for icing, offsides and puck over glass are subjective.

[kehlis]

Re: The Official NHL 2020-2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs Thread

Based on the wording there and specifically time and distance involved I don’t think I understand why it isn’t textbook charging?

(I agree with everything you’re saying about how the NHL feels about this hit by the way. That’s a whole other conversation)

[slickdtc]

Re: The Official NHL 2020-2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs Thread

Haha, some random comment I saw claimed the play as a charge which I agreed with, but I didn’t want to bring up an outside opinion in this discussion. Once it was established as being a clear penalty, all the “hockey is a tough sport! Man up!” stuff just rang so hollow. Hockey still has rules and they allow plenty of toughness and action within them.

So dirty and illegal by rule. I don’t see much wiggle room for the DOPS, though that’s never made a difference before. He needs to sit for the series, at least. If he comes back you’re setting your officials up for an impossible task to control the inevitable.

[ImTellinTim]

Re: The Official NHL 2020-2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs Thread

I 100% agree. I'm just saying, thru the lens of the NHL, that's a hit they want in the game.

And the league officials absolutely love that the reason he did it was out of anger and vengeance.

As evidenced by Reaves blatantly throwing Suter’s face into the goal post from behind and getting only an interference penalty. Then not getting a deserved suspension. Then - in the very next game - doing what he does. Again.

[Money99]

Re: The Official NHL 2020-2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs Thread

As evidenced by Reaves blatantly throwing Suter’s face into the goal post from behind and getting only an interference penalty. Then not getting a deserved suspension. Then - in the very next game - doing what he does. Again.

YUP.

The NHL right now, praying there's a game 6:

[DrJones]

Re: The Official NHL 2020-2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs Thread

I thought 3-6 games, with 4 being the least likely, as that would mean Scheifele's 1st game back would be Game 6 in Montreal (assuming the series goes that long). Silly me. I guess the league is hoping for the long-awaited sequel to the Good Friday Massacre?

[Kobalt]

Re: The Official NHL 2020-2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs Thread

Guessing Bowen Byram will play in game 4, really need O'Connor back on the 4th line too

Edit: If not Byram, I would take Corsi-god MacDonald

[l3ulvl]

Re: The Official NHL 2020-2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs Thread

I thought 3-6 games, with 4 being the least likely, as that would mean Scheifele's 1st game back would be Game 6 in Montreal (assuming the series goes that long). Silly me. I guess the league is hoping for the long-awaited sequel to the Good Friday Massacre?

I had to google the Good Friday Massacre


surprised to learn it happened on 4/20


rituals were different in the 80s


a reprisal would be like

[southernmetalhead]

Re: The Official NHL 2020-2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs Thread

Lol Skjei high sticks Kucherov and then goes into the box only for the refs to tell him “Oh, hey we didn’t call a penalty on you.”