Joined: May 2018
Posts: 180
Likes: 49
First, lets address the major penalty. Rule 59 states that a major penalty can be assessed at the discretion of the referee based on the severity of the contact. So Eakin's crosscheck is to the upper section of Pavelskis chest which threw him off balance and in the process Stasny threw Pavelski to the ice causing the major injury. Is the crosscheck what caused the head injury, No but the consequence of it caused the injury helped by Stasny. Second, The Eakin goal could have gone either way but from most angles it looks high and should probably be called back. Third, The goalie inference call in game 2 when Sj scored 3 goals in the span of 3 minutes and were about to go up 4-3 was also a missed call. Any contact that Couture causes is unintentional and as the play happens( which is 1-2 ft outside the goalies crease) Fleury is the one who causes contact and reacts dramatically to get the call overturned. Also, they had a 3-1 lead on a team who was 0-6 in those situations previously. Game 5 was expected for Sj to win. Game 6 they outplayed Sj but a goalie was hot and saved the game(sound familiar....?) and Vegas was given a power play in the second overtime and were scored on shorthanded. And had a 3-0 lead with 10 minutes remaining and their penalty kill failed allowing 4 goals. Notwithstanding the fact they scored a very improbable goal with under a minute left to force OT. They still had a chance to win the series and couldn't come through. Say what you want about the major penalty but it is ignorant and far-reaching to say that the penalty is the only factor that caused them to lose when there were many more than just that one penalty that caused their playoff demise