Does Vegas Have The Right To Be Upset
Photo Credit: Mercury News
So last night in game 7 of the first round of the NHL playoffs, the Las Vegas Golden Knights had a 3-0 lead halfway into the 3rd period and would end up losing thanks to none other than a controversial call from the referees. With 10:47 remaining in the game and with all hope lost for the San Jose Sharks, who had clawed their way back into this series after being down 3 games to 1, Cody Eakin of the Knights cross-checked Joe Pavelski after a face-off. Pavelski would lose his balance and then collide with another Knights player, Paul Stastny, before falling awkwardly and slamming his head on the ice. Pavelski was seriously hurt and needed to be helped off the ice and taken back to the locker room. As a result, the refs awarded the San Jose Sharks a 5 minute major penalty. If you are unfamiliar with hockey, nearly all penalties are 2 minute minors which result in an 5-4 advantage on the ice. But for a 2 minute minor, the moment the team with an advantage scores, the penalty is over. Well for a 5 minute major, the penalty isn’t over till the entire 5 mins is up and the San Jose Sharks took every advantage of the 5 mins by scoring 4 goals and taking the lead. Now Las Vegas was able to find an equalizer with around 30 seconds to play in the game but San Jose would come out on top in overtime and in the series. Here’s the video of the cross-check from Cody Eakin that resulted in the penalty.
As you can see it was a series of unfortunate events that led to Pavelski getting injured but in no way shape or form is that a 5 minute major. This is at most a 2 minute minor and I honestly don’t think the whistle is blown at all, if not for Pavelski laying on the ice. Then you add into the fact that he was rather severely injured and this judgement call somehow led to the refs awarding a 5 minute major. So does Vegas have a right to be upset that this call ended their season?
Well there are those that would say no because they flat out believe it was the right call on the ice, granted those are few and far between. The refs after the game stated that “The Referees called a crosschecking penalty for an infraction that caused a significant injury.” And while it’s true that this cross-check was what started the series of events that led to the injury, it wasn’t the cross check itself that injured Pavelski. Making a judgement call like this because in the end the player got injured is a slippery slope. It’s essentially saying that if anything happens on the ice and it leads to a player getting injured then the refs can justify a penalty. My main problem with it is that while Eakin’s cross check is what started Pavelski falling down, it wasn’t the only thing that led to the injury. Had Stastny not collided with Pavelski, he more than likely would have simply fell to the ice and got right back up with no penalty whatsoever. But because he collides with Stastny as well and gets hit harder, driving him into the ice, doesn’t mean that Eakin is to blame, nor Stastny. Truly nobody is to blame for the injury. Eakin gave a cross-check in open ice, it wasn’t dangerous at all and he happen to fall in Stastny’s path. Not a 5 minute penalty, it’s more or less a freak accident.
Then you have the group of people that agree with the majority of us that it wasn’t a penalty, but still blame Vegas for chocking away such a lead. Major penalty or not, if your powerkill unit can’t stop a team from scoring 4 goals in five minutes, do you even deserve the right to be upset? No matter how bad the call on the ice was, you still had a job to do and that was to win the game. Apparently Vegas was so rattled after the call that they forgot to do their job. And while I can agree with the notion that the Knights should have won the game regardless of a minor or major penalty being called, it was still a bad call and it changed the outcome of not just the game but the series.
It’s so incredibly similar to what happen to New Orleans in the NFC Championship against LA Rams. The non-pass interference call cost them the chance to kill the clock and kick a field goal to win the game. They still would’ve had to have hit the field goal, just like the Knights still would’ve had to held onto the lead, but at that point it would have been a gimme. As a result of the bad call, the Saints and the Knights fell to hold on to the win in regulation so both games went to overtime where despite the bad call they still could’ve beaten the other team. And just like the Saints who allowed the Rams to kick the game winner in OT, the Knights allowed the Sharks to score the game winner in OT. The similarities between how these two games ended is striking. In the end, I’m going to have to side with Vegas having every right to be upset. Despite them chocking after the bad call and despite all the chances they still could’ve had to win the game after the call was made, that call with 10 mins remaining in the 3rd period altered the game, the series and their season.
Thanny