Last night's game against Arizona was an odd one. It was chippy, rough, and downright ugly at times. The two teams combined for 12 powerplay opportunities and 44 penalty minutes. One of the uglier moments of the game came late in the third when L.A.'s Jake Muzzin throw what looked like a reckless check at a vulnerable Boyd Gordon at the Coyotes blue line.
It was a somewhat awkward play, as Muzzin's point shot was blocked in front, and subsequently hit a stick on the clearance, vaulting the puck straight up in the air between the circles and out towards the blueline. Gordon, attempting to swat the puck out of midair, goes down to one knee. He is then hit in the head by the hip of an onrushing Muzzin who was attempting to check Gordon.
Here is a gif of the play in full form the Arizona Broadcast. Forgive the strange angle.
At real speed, that's a tough looking hit, there is an injury on the play, and it was to the head.
Yea, no question, match penalty right?
Unfortunately, we have the beauty of instant replay on this, and in real time with real emotions running high the officials do not for this certain play. Much to the dismay of Coyotes broadcast team of Matt McConnell and Tyson Nash it was not as dirty a play as they made it seem.
Here are a couple of other angles, provided by GIF master Stephanie (@Myregularface) on twitter.
Tyson Nash also states that Muzzin never looked for the puck, and was going straight body, which is also incorrect on the play. While Gordon is in a vulnerable position, on one knee, it was not originally so.
Muzzin is beginning to line up for the check right now. Gordon is still upright, and if he remains upright that's an open ice hit on a player with the puck, and is likely nothing.
Gordon then drops to one knee via loss of balance or in order to get a better swat on the descending puck right before Muzzin applies the hit.
There is no way on earth that Muzzin could have "Targeted" the head of Boyd Gordon when he initially commits to making the hit. Why? Because Gordon was standing upright, is 6'0" feet tall, and Muzzin's hip cannot reach that high. In the split second prior to the contact, Gordon kneels. So unless Jake Muzzin has foresight, there is no way he could intend to hit him in the head, nor injure him.
From the NHL rule book, match penalties are described as follows:
"Deliberate Intent to injure" is not clear in this play at all. You can tell in this still that Muzzin is looking up towards the puck, along with everyone else on the ice really.
You cannot confidently say there is some premeditated intent to injure on this play when Muzzin has yet to even commit to making the hit just literally two seconds before it happens.
You want intent to injure plays?
In all of these instances, the hitting players have time to assess where they are, where they opponent is, and what kind of position they are in. None of these players put themselves in awkward positions, they are in static positions, and there is no sudden movement.
Match penalties or majors were correctly assessed.
On the play in question involving Muzzin and Gordon, it is hard to say there is anything dirty or premeditated here. If Gordon stays upright instead of kneeling down and is hit in the chest, is this anything other than a body check at the blueline? Is it even a penalty? The puck was there, so it is not interference. It is not elbowing, or clipping. So what would it have been if Gordon stands upright? Probably nothing.
Match penalties are automatically reviewed by the NHL, and hopefully the Kings do not have to deal with an ill-advised suspension on top of mounting injuries.
While it is hard to fault officials, because they have so much to deal with already, this was a poor call that ended up impacting the outcome of the game. Arizona scored twice on the subsequent powerplays and forced overtime. At real speed the play looked much uglier than it was, but it also looked awkward due to the fact that Gordon put himself in a strange position just split seconds before the hit was laid upon him.
Most importantly here, we all wish Boyd Gordon a speedy recovery and that the injury is not a serious one.
As far as Jake Muzzin goes, the play was just an unfortunate and awkward check gone bad at the blueline. Dirty? No. Premeditated? No. Match penalty worthy? Nope. Even minor worthy? Hard to say it was.
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