It took until game 3 tonight when I realized the Red Wings are apparently being allowed to play defense according to 2001 rules in order to increase their chances against the speedier BlackHawks.
The interference on dump ins by the Blackhawks is really egregious and near-constant. The D aren't even bothering to turn before they interfere, they are just face-up interfering, taking one or sometimes even two strides horizontally.
Kronwall is the worst, but they all do it.
Eegad. Kronwall looks like he just killed Havlat.
Here in Bettman's NHL, that was a perfectly clean good hit. Havlat looks to be out for the playoffs if he's smart. We get to see him knocked cold, eyes open, staring up like an animal. Meanwhile the players gang tackle and I am pretty sure stepped on Havlat a couple of times. Really awful stuff.
Meanwhile, earlier, Toews gets hit with an inadvertent high stick, gets a nick it's 4 minute double minor.
Oh they are penalizing Kronwall after all. Don't know why -- it's the same "clean" knock out hit we get to see 6 or 7 times in every playoff. 5 minute match for interference and a game misconduct? I would have thought they might be able to call elbowing, so I don't understand this penalty. It clearly has to do with the result as opposed to the action. I think Detroit has a legit beef.
The NHL has to legislate against open ice hits to the head, and make it the responsibility of the checker. Yeah, sure, sometimes the guy has his head down when he's skating. So what? You still have to check him in a way that avoids hitting him in the head. If hits to the head weren't legal, guys like Kronwall can't explode through open ice and level someone without taking a risk. He needs to come up, hard but in control. He could have still leveled Havlat, but instead he comes in like a car crash because, normally, if he keeps his elbow down, all is legal. This is exactly the same principal with defensive rushers of the QB. They can never hit in the head no matter what. But they manage to get their sacks and still knock QBS out, but not a lot of QBs leaving the game for concussions anymore.
Technically, it was a penalty as havlat never possessed the puck. He never touched it.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I understand not calling a penalty as havlat was attempting to play the puck. I guess, you should think about it as two opposing players pursuing an iced puck. They can't touch each other before one touches the puck.