Ann 2Game 30 Review: Hurricanes Defeat Canadiens 3-2 In Penalty-Fest
December 19th 2008 18:53
When I was reviewing the NHL playoffs games this past spring, I often complained about the referees' job and how they indirectly influenced the outcome of the games. Often they would call every infraction in the first and second period, let the guys get away with some penalties in the third especially when the score was close only to call a penalty out of nowhere in the final minutes, and, if the game went into overtime, come up with the unspoken rule that is the make-up penalty. The latter is most frequent in regular season games, so much so that even the players know that it's going to come up at some point.
Tuesday night, in the game opposing the Carolina Hurricanes to the Montreal Canadiens, the referees showed us the other side of the medal a game without make-up calls and boy, it wasn't pretty. During the course of that game the Canadiens took eleven yes, ELEVEN consecutive penalties including three 5-on-3s, essentially spending an entire period on the penalty-kill. Although the Hurricanes had trouble finding the back of the net recently, eleven powerplays were more than enough to get their confidence back. Indeed all three Carolina goals were scored on the powerplay, allowing them to have a lead on their rival for the majority of the game. Despite finding themselves shorthanded for most of the game, the Canadiens still managed to stay in the game thanks to some nice work by goaltender Jaroslav Halak and by capitalizing on most of their opportunities. Guillaume Latendresse didn't miss his chance when he was awarded a penalty shot early in the second period, putting the score at 2-1. One minute later, Alex Kovalev equalized the mark by scoring a shorthanded goal right after Robert Lang won a faceoff in the offensive zone. But five minutes later, the Canes took the lead on the powerplay.
The unfortunate part in this whole mess is that the few times the Habs could play 5-on-5, they dominated their opponents who looked overwhelmed at times as the Canadiens buzzed in their zone. Cam Ward looked unusually shaky that night and there's no telling how he would have kept up in even strength situations. Furthermore the numbers of penalties given to the Habs meant that players such as Andrei Markov, Josh Gorges, Roman Hamrlik, Tom Kostopoulos, Tomas Plekanec, etc. were overworked while skilled forwards such as Andrei Kostitsyn and Alex Tanguay were left cooling off on the bench, making them less effective when their turn came to play. All in all, it was just one big pile of crap. Did the Canadiens deserve all those penalties? Probably so. They were often lazy in the neutral zone, leading to many hooking penalties. But out of eleven penalties, only seven or eight were truly deserved. The real problem is that on the other side, the Hurricanes took only one penalty excluding the penalty shot, and that came early in the third period the only penalty of the period by the way. Now, were the Canadiens were undisciplined? No doubt about it. But did the Hurricanes play such a perfect game to get only one penalty? I don't think so. Not only they committed more than one infraction, the Canadiens themselves made a couple more fouls in the third period. In both instances, neither team were called. And that is the real issue with referees in the NHL. They have to be consistent.
My 3 Stars:
3. Sergei Samsonov
2. Joe Corvo
1. Eric Staal
Tuesday night, in the game opposing the Carolina Hurricanes to the Montreal Canadiens, the referees showed us the other side of the medal a game without make-up calls and boy, it wasn't pretty. During the course of that game the Canadiens took eleven yes, ELEVEN consecutive penalties including three 5-on-3s, essentially spending an entire period on the penalty-kill. Although the Hurricanes had trouble finding the back of the net recently, eleven powerplays were more than enough to get their confidence back. Indeed all three Carolina goals were scored on the powerplay, allowing them to have a lead on their rival for the majority of the game. Despite finding themselves shorthanded for most of the game, the Canadiens still managed to stay in the game thanks to some nice work by goaltender Jaroslav Halak and by capitalizing on most of their opportunities. Guillaume Latendresse didn't miss his chance when he was awarded a penalty shot early in the second period, putting the score at 2-1. One minute later, Alex Kovalev equalized the mark by scoring a shorthanded goal right after Robert Lang won a faceoff in the offensive zone. But five minutes later, the Canes took the lead on the powerplay.
The unfortunate part in this whole mess is that the few times the Habs could play 5-on-5, they dominated their opponents who looked overwhelmed at times as the Canadiens buzzed in their zone. Cam Ward looked unusually shaky that night and there's no telling how he would have kept up in even strength situations. Furthermore the numbers of penalties given to the Habs meant that players such as Andrei Markov, Josh Gorges, Roman Hamrlik, Tom Kostopoulos, Tomas Plekanec, etc. were overworked while skilled forwards such as Andrei Kostitsyn and Alex Tanguay were left cooling off on the bench, making them less effective when their turn came to play. All in all, it was just one big pile of crap. Did the Canadiens deserve all those penalties? Probably so. They were often lazy in the neutral zone, leading to many hooking penalties. But out of eleven penalties, only seven or eight were truly deserved. The real problem is that on the other side, the Hurricanes took only one penalty excluding the penalty shot, and that came early in the third period the only penalty of the period by the way. Now, were the Canadiens were undisciplined? No doubt about it. But did the Hurricanes play such a perfect game to get only one penalty? I don't think so. Not only they committed more than one infraction, the Canadiens themselves made a couple more fouls in the third period. In both instances, neither team were called. And that is the real issue with referees in the NHL. They have to be consistent.
My 3 Stars:
3. Sergei Samsonov
2. Joe Corvo
1. Eric Staal
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