The Penguins headed into their contest against the Bruins last night with Jared McCann and John Marino as game-time decisions. They left the game with neither player dressing, Teddy Blueger out long term, Evgeni Malkin leaving the game with a lower body injury, and Brandon Tanev ejected for boarding. Needless to say they weren’t playing with a full deck of cards last night. All things considered the 2-1 loss wasn’t so bad.
For Teddy Blueger it is just the latest case of a Penguin finishing a game and then being out long term. He was on the ice the last shift of the game. This seems to happen way more than it should with Penguins players considering the professional care they have available. Blueger has been really good this year and this will sting more than some of the defensive losses this year considering the Penguins forward depth.
Next let’s just jump right in and talk about the elephant in the room. Brandon Tanev’s ejection from the game. He was ejected on a boarding penalty in the second period. Here is the play in question
Brandon Tanev given a major penalty and a game misconduct for this hit on Jarred Tinordi. Penalty upheld after review. Tanev livid with the call. pic.twitter.com/XwWUg51mHu
— Brady Trettenero (@BradyTrett) March 17, 2021
In real time I didn’t think this hit was as bad as Tom Wilson’s on Mark Jankowski or Zach Aston-Reese’s on Dylan Cozens. I was surprised they gave a major and even more surprised they upheld it with video review. My initial thought was they based it on the result instead of the action. Jarred Tinordi was injured on a violent looking play so they just went with the major penalty.
Now that time has passed I am fine with the major penalty call. It checks enough boxes. His approach to Tinordi could fall under a charging penalty. The charging led to the force which resulting in a vicious boarding. Here is how the rule is written:
A boarding penalty shall be imposed on any player who checks or pushes a defenseless opponent in such a manner that causes the opponent to hit or impact the boards violently or dangerously. The severity of the penalty, based upon the impact with the boards, shall be at the discretion of the Referee.
That happened. Tinordi was defenseless and did hit the boards in a violent manner. While I think the league leans too hard into punishing players based on the result of the play and not the actual action it is what they do all the time.
The other variable here is when you engage with a player like Tanev did you always open yourself up to something bad happening. He had no intent on playing the puck. It doesn’t matter how soon after the puck was released. His body language told a clear story he never cared about it to begin with. He was hitting to hurt and was not hitting with the purpose to trying to get the puck. When you hit to hurt and the player does indeed get hurt you open yourself up for a bigger punishment from a league that doesn’t judge the act, but the result.
I totally understand the Penguins frustration by the call. This league does such a horrendous job of being consistent you never know what to expect. Look at this example from last night. It happened shortly after the Tanev incident in a different game.
Jordan Greenway assessed a minor penalty for an illegal check to the head for coming up high on Ekman-Larsson. Poor angle by him, rolling off arm/shoulder and across the front of the body pic.twitter.com/yQTGH99nFA
— NHL Safety Watch (@NHLSafetyWatch) March 17, 2021
Yeah, they gave that hit a minor penalty. There is no rhyme or reason to any of it. Both Sidney Crosby and Mike Sullivan want clarification and how can you blame them?
Sid: "If they're going to err on the side of protecting us, I'm never going to have a problem with that." But said the players need to have clarity on what's legal and what's not.
— Matt Vensel (@mattvensel) March 17, 2021
Sullivan re: the league’s message on what constitutes a legal hit: “There’s a lot of latitude there for the discretion of the referee. And I think they’re trying try to err on the side of caution to protect the players, and I think we all would agree that’s the right way to go.…
— Angie (@acarducci) March 17, 2021
I agree with both. I think the league should clarify things for the players and I also think the league should err on the side of caution to protect the players. If they are erring on the side of caution Brandon Tanev’s hit is a major penalty. It is the right decision to prevent needless injuries. However, the league needs to get its head out of its you know what and maintain a consistent standard. The absolutely do not have a consistent standard which is why you see these hits happen all the time. They can’t even get blatant minor penalties correct and it almost cost Taylor Hall his jaw last night.
When it rains, it pours .. Taylor Hall just took a clapper right in the chin. Scary. pic.twitter.com/oa8NGpeMOh
— Nick Alberga (@thegoldenmuzzy) March 16, 2021
You know all those crosschecks that are blatantly obvious, but never called? This is the result of those non-calls.
You can’t rely on this league to get the little things right so when it is time for them to get the big things right they clearly can’t do that either. It is a real mess.
Brandon Tanev deserved his major penalty. He does not deserve to be suspended. The players deserve clarity. The league needs figure this out because they have a great opportunity to showcase the skill in this sport with the new ESPN deal around the corner. Don’t hold your breath, they never get out of their own way.
Thanks for reading!