Quoting: IconicHawk
Gudbrannson’s retaliation was honestly justified
While I know what Perron meant to do, he just attacked someone completely unrelated to the whole Larkin debacle
There's no justification for retaliation outside of the rules. The NHL shares blame because they fail to set a consistent standard with boarding (and other) penalties.
Regardless, your options are to play physically against that player or get them to fight. Players can't be permitted to jump someone, ever. This easily could have been a repeat of the Bertuzzi incident.
Quoting: HockeyScotty
Yeah I don't know how you can compare those two situations at all. If Zub had been severely injured that would have been near McSorely level thuggery. Sure Gudbranson attacked a "non willing" opponent, but at least it was the guy who had nearly injured him in a previous play and not an innocent bystander. One could argue that Cousins knew it was coming since Erik had pretty said it was coming earlier in the game. Zub had no idea what was coming and was actually trying to help get medical attention to Larkin.
Agree Zub was a bystander but it only highlights the problem of letting players get away with attempt to injure in a retaliatory scenario. They don't get to decide what happened and what the punishment should be. They may not have a clear understanding of what happened to start with. Hell, even the audience can't come to a consensus half the time with multiple slow motion reviews. Regardless, the punishments in the rules are penalties, misconducts, fines, and suspensions. There's no "eye for an eye" clause when you disagree with what a player did or what the call on the ice was.
Quoting: NorthernLeafsFan05
Perron deserved 6, and so did Gudbranson. I hate this rhetoric that rules shouldn't be enforced because someone else broke a rule first. Draw the line somewhere and enforce it
Agreed. I was pointing out the disconnect. The situations may not seem to be related, but they both boil down to players taking revenge with a clear intent to injure.
Doesn't matter what anyone does to "deserve" it, there can be no tolerance for players seeking retribution outside of the rules.