Paul Stewart: Golden Knights Have Only Themselves to Blame

The call was an abomination and they never should have been put in that position. The fact that they imploded or couldn't win it is on them but the officiating, in that moment, was utterly incompetent.

aye carumba dude

Paul :What a load of tosh

that play happens multiple times on a nightly basis. The ref's over-reacted because a player was laying on the ice bleeding. That was absolutely not a 5 min and game misconduct penalty. 2 min maybe....

that play happens multiple times on a nightly basis. The ref's over-reacted because a player was laying on the ice bleeding. That was absolutely not a 5 min and game misconduct penalty. 2 min maybe....
- hehateme

that's not what the blog says

You all know better than a professional referee? It was a stupid reaction and the refs have a split second to make that call. We get to look at 100 times in slo mo from 5 angles. If it happened to Pacioretty or Stone you would be singing a different time.

You all know better than a professional referee? .
- Tedge77

It certainly appears so, in this situation

You all know better than a professional referee? It was a stupid reaction and the refs have a split second to make that call. We get to look at 100 times in slo mo from 5 angles. If it happened to Pacioretty or Stone you would be singing a different time.
- Tedge77

now that is what the blog says

Great write up you’re dead on Paul

The entire issue is, if Pavelski gets up from that hit, there is nothing called. So, if a call is made based on injury, why are any penalties called, when no injuries happen? Either a play is a penalty or not, the result of it being an injury or not should not play into the call.

Isn't it ironic that the cage (which was supposed to protect him) was the thing that caused the bleeding, not a high stick.

Big surprise. A former ref 100% takes the side of the refs. SHOCKER!

I do agree that Vegas takes some blame for allowing 4 goals, but if the PP was only 2 minutes, maybe they only allow 1 or 2 goals and still win the game.

They do take some of the blame, but the refs made an awful call to put them in that position to begin with.

What a bunch of crap Stewart. We all have eyes, and all know that NHL officiating is political, and is based on the time/score/scenario, not based on calling by the rule book. Quit trying to defend that garbage.

Its a chain reaction that caused the spiral downhill. Momentum is huge,the refs should be evaluated for not making the right call or correcting it. Players, coaches and gm get grilled its about time the refs do as well without the league protecting them like fining the players or coaches.

Please help me understand the difference between making a potentially game deciding decision (as it was), with 9 minutes left in a game 7, versus the type of officiating we've seen in the OT periods where nothing is called because they don't want to decide the outcome of the game.

The refs are using two drastically different types of decision making here and that's the problem.

If they are reffing to control the game but not impact the outcome, then they should've taken the compromise option of a double minor....still severe penalty and allows Sharks to get right back in the game, but does not give them and unlimited opportunity to, as luck would have it, score 4.

You all know better than a professional referee? It was a stupid reaction and the refs have a split second to make that call. We get to look at 100 times in slo mo from 5 angles. If it happened to Pacioretty or Stone you would be singing a different time.
- Tedge77

They actually do not have just a split second to make the call. They have a split second to blow a whistle...they actually all conferred for some time discussing the penalty; big difference

4 goals in 5 minutes. That is the whole story.

4 goals in 5 minutes. That is the whole story.
- OilyJay

With the man advantage the entire time....Do not forget that key part.

5 minutes for a play that happens probably 10-20 times a game. Sure, Vegas folded defensively and forked over 4 PPGs, but the Sharks shouldn't have even been on a PP. Awful call, completely changed the outcome of the game.

They actually do not have just a split second to make the call. They have a split second to blow a whistle...they actually all conferred for some time discussing the penalty; big difference
- nikel

I loved how he didnt address that

I cant argue the call was not a great one. There was however a penalty or two on the table. But every one of you ripping on the refs for this would be outraged if one of your star players lay in a pool of blood with no call. I am a Kings fan, and truly do not like either team but that second goal was also a mistaken call by the officials. Going into the third down 1-0 is totally different than 2-0.

Players make bad decisions too, both get paid to WORK the game. Far too much blame is put on the officials and not the players/coaches for their own errors.

While the refs had an off night Vegas fell asleep for that penalty kill. 4 power play goals on one penalty? Really they deserve to go home for that. Lets also not forget they choked a 3-1 game lead and blew the game themselves to probably one of the biggest game 7 choke teams the Sharks.

The refs saw a cross check in the midst of a hard fought game 7, there was a player on the ice bleeding... what did you expect them to call?
The call was fine, not calling a time out after the second goal was criminal.

The refs saw a cross check in the midst of a hard fought game 7, there was a player on the ice bleeding... what did you expect them to call?
The call was fine, not calling a time out after the second goal was criminal.
- OrrFour

The player bleeding had a face mask on, so no blood from a high stick. What is the reason for calling a penalty based on?

The loss is 100% on the Golden Knights for not "sucking it up" and killing the bogus 5 minute major. I can't remember ever seeing more than 2 goals scored on a 5 minute major. Giving up 4 is sub-NHL caliber hockey.

Having said that, there is no way this call was fair or right. It may be possible to point to the rule book to justify it on technical terms but we all know that 5 minute majors are actually very rare (more so in the playoffs) and are only given out for very egregious and obvious penalties.

Whatever justification from the rule book that could be used in this case is not typically used on a nightly basis. Just watch any Hornqvist-type player on any given night. While screening goalies they take multiple brutal, hard, and deliberate crosschecks in the back - much worse than Eakin's. These are almost never even called. Malkin took a very brutal and deliberate crosscheck in the ribs from Bortuzzo in the Pens last game against St. Louis that injured him badly and was again not even called.

At least regarding crosschecking, it seems like refs have "blurred the distinction" between a 5 minute major and a match penalty and almost never call the 5 minute major. For the rare exceptionally bad cases they call the match penalty - otherwise they call the 2 minute minor. Crosschecks are either:
- not called (most typical)
- a 2 minute minor (usually for repeated hard crosschecks - as bad or usually worse than Eakin's)
- a match penalty (e.g. Jesse Boulerice's crosscheck to Ryan Kesler's teeth back in 2007)

In this case injuries after the play made it look worse and the refs decided to arbitrarily enforce something from the rule book that they usually never enforce.

Not hard to tell this was written by a ref.

So is subsequent outcome a factor in all calls? Or just when it's convenient to validating a terrible call?

Because eakin gets 5 and a game, Kadri gets 5 and 5 games. Both with very different 'subsequent outcomes' for cross checks that were 3 inches apart at most.

completely disagree with you Paul...

eakins crosscheck was not malicious and how do you get into the mind of the player to determine he was responding to losing the draw.

Neither ref had his arm raised to call a penalty. It was clearly outcome based or they just guessed. No excuse for not seeing that it was to the chest and not the head or neck area.

In the cap/cane game last night I counted 4 post faceoff crosschecks and no call. The refs in that game refused to call a penalty in the 3rd or OT; certainly not for lack one. They missed obvious DOG penalty on the caps and then nailed the canes with a similar DOG.

Officials need to make the call on incident not the outcome. It was the wrong call and one of the worst in playoff history.