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Every hockey official dreads the thought of making the wrong call on a play that directly affects the outcome of a game. What happened in Game 7 of the Vegas vs. San Jose playoff series on Tuesday night was not the wrong call, nor should the crew that worked the game -- all veterans, all very good at their jobs individually and collectively -- lose any sleep over the outcome.
There's a lot to deconstruct here, so I'll get right into it. As a rule of thumb, I do not like making calls based on the outcome of a play. Judge the play itself.
Now, you might say, "Wait, aren't you contradicting yourself here, Stewy? Wasn't Cody Eakin's cross-check on Joe Pavelski a rather mild degree of contact, and delivered to the chest? Wasn't the call of a five-minute major and game misconduct based solely on the outcome of Pavelski getting injured when his head hit the ice?"
Here is how I see this one: While there likely was no intent to injure (a match penalty would not apply), there was a reckless use of the stick. Eakin supplied sufficient energy to knock Pavelski off-balance. Thus, it is proper to factor the subsequent outcome into the call.
If not for the needless cross-check he delivered to Pavelski out of frustration from getting beaten cleanly off the draw -- this was not a "hockey play gone bad", where I would disagree with a more severe penalty being issued based strictly on the outcome-- the incidental subsequent bump from Paul Stastny would not have toppled the San Jose player. The latter part was innocent action by Statsny, who was just moving into the circle area as the puck was drawn back.
In my opinion, the onus here is 100 percent on Eakin. It was a selfish, petulant act to cross-check Pavelski. The player who gratuitously supplied the energy that directly contributed to the injury carries full liability for the consequence. If he'd have received a minor penalty, it would have been a lenient call in a situation where he wasn't making a hockey play of any sort but merely acting out of frustration of coming out on the wrong end of a hockey play.
A second issue that has been raised: No, the referee did not have his arm raised for a penalty. That is irrelevant in this case.
It was not a delayed penalty scenario. Play needed to be blown dead, and the team with the injured player on the ice had possession of the puck. Secondly, even if there was not going to be a penalty called initially by a referee, a linesman can report an infraction or even make certain types of penalty calls himself.
Additionally, even if the initial call was a minor penalty, an officiating team most certainly can confer on what happened and a referee come to a decision to upgrade the call to a major. A ref's arm going up immediately or not at all before the whistle has no bearing on a final decision.
Want to find where the blame actually lies. It lies with Cody Eakin for putting personal frustration above his team. It lies with the Vegas penalty kill that allowed four goals in five minutes. It may also partially lie with coach Gerard Gallant for not calling timeout before the horse was out of the barn.
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A Class of 2018 inductee to the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, Paul Stewart holds the distinction of being the first U.S.-born citizen to make it to the NHL as both a player and referee. On March 15, 2003, he became the first American-born referee to officiate in 1,000 NHL games.
Visit Paul's official website, YaWannaGo.com.
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