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The Toronto Maple Leafs were not having a good day leading up to their match against the St. Louis Blues. They were awaiting word on the suspension of defenseman Morgan Rielly, they found out that defenseman Conor Timmins (Rielly’s de facto replacement on the top power play) was out indefinitely with mononucleosis, and that goalie Martin Jones had suffered an undisclosed injury and is considered day-to-day.
Things proceeded to get worse just prior to game time, as the decision of a five-game suspension came down from the NHL Department of Player Safety and that not only the Leafs top blueliner would be unavailable, but that center John Tavares and winger Mitch Marner would miss the game due to the flu.
At that point, the wagering public must have been heading to FanDuel, DraftKings, MGM, or Sports Interaction (who I mention here just to be able to slam them for insinuating that Americans don’t know hockey) to put bets down on the Blues, who came into the game winners of five in a row. Hopefully, those people did not gamble their life savings, as the Leafs surprised the Blues 4-1 at Scotiabank Arena.
BOBBY MCMANN 🎩🎩🎩
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) February 14, 2024
FIRST CAREER HAT-TRICK pic.twitter.com/bS0FCqB73k
Fourth-liner Bobby McMann had a career night for the Blue and White, scoring his first NHL hat trick to give Toronto a much-needed two points to keep pace with Tampa Bay (who won in OT over Boston) and stay four points ahead of New Jersey. William Nylander also scored, and Ilya Samsonov only had to make 14 saves, as the Leafs put out a superb defensive effort in the first of a three-game homestand.
“We played a pretty simple game, which is what was required, especially once we got the lead. We needed guys to step up in different ways. I thought we got a lot of great efforts tonight.… Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said after the game. “Bobby scored two huge goals for us and a cool empty-netter to finish it off. Terrific end to kind of a strange day for us, quite honestly, with a lot of lineup uncertainty and stuff like that. Bobby himself didn’t know he was going to play until he got to the rink today.…
BOBBY MCMANN 🚨
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) February 14, 2024
Takes it to the net and scores pic.twitter.com/f4ux7kzFCt
The Rielly suspension is all kinds of smelly since a penalty of six games or more could have been appealed, first to NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and then to an independent arbitrator. Based on the severity of the infraction and comparables to other incidents over the last few seasons, Rielly’s cross-check likely fell in the range of a two or three-game suspension. Five or fewer games go to just Bettman, who is loath to go against the DOPS and head sheriff George Parros.
Rielly filed an appeal on Wednesday.
In my opinion, the five-game penalty was handed out to make Bettman’s reaffirming of the five games the final word, but this is something that also reaffirms the NHL has a real issue with consistency in officiating on and off the ice and avoiding the appearance of different standards. Punishing a big market team or virtue signaling because a club has more attention on them is akin to having differing standards, and makes the NHL look foolish.
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