One penalty call from Friday night’s Game Four between the Boston Bruins and New York Islanders has gone through quite the roller coaster review process and yet questions still remain. The NHL Department of Players Safety has announced that Bruins forward David Krejci has received a maximum $5,000 fine for “slashing” on Islanders forward Mathew Barzal in the second period last night.
Slashing though was not even the original call. The penalty in question was called when Krejci used his stick to jab Barzal between the legs in last night’s contest. The initial call on the ice was a major penalty for spearing. However, when the officials reviewed the call, they reduced the penalty to a minor for slashing. Player Safety seemingly felt that the play deserved further scrutiny and decided on supplemental discipline for Krejci, but they too considered it slashing.
Upon further review, it is hard to watch the play and call it anything less than spearing. With that said, the reduction in the penalty may have also been partially a make-up call by the on-ice officials. The crew missed repeated cross-checks by Barzal against Krejci before the veteran decided to deliver his own brand of justice against the youngster. Upon reviewing the play, the officials may have decided that their own inaction led to the penalty and felt that Krejci did not deserve five minutes in the box. It also seems likely that Barzal helped the penalty along with some acting.
The officials missing calls against the Bruins has been a storyline in this series (and last) as well. Boston head coach Bruce Cassidy spoke out after the Game Four loss, stating that he didn’t think his team was getting a fair amount of calls in their favor during the postseason. Krejci was also critical of the officiating and of Barzal. The question now is whether the comments of the respected coach and veteran will make any impact when the Bruins and Islanders start fresh with a tied series in Game Five on Monday.
Playoff officiating is always suspect. Add the disparities in regular season vs playoff officiating to the list of things that happened this year which makes calling it a “Department of Player Safety” a misnomer. You know what would keep players safer? Consistency. If the refs backed off the major penalty because of their permissiveness (or league directed permissiveness) it should be investigated. It won’t be, of course.
I was kinda stunned to learn that man (most?) NHL players don’t wear a cup.
Guessing Barzal regrets that choice.
@forwhomjoshbelltolled – As soon as Barzal’s eyes stop watering and his voice gets back to normal, he just might be knocking at your door. You can still laugh at him while asking why he’s still hunched over!
;)
Guarantee that’s false. Hockey players at every level wear a cup. Why on earth would they get to the highest level with the hardest shots and most violence and say “You know what? I don’t need that anymore.”
So I really think that if spearing in the nutties is only good for maximum fine then sign me up. I always said u can ruin a man fairly quickly with this non hockey move…anyone should take a max fine on a Bruins player like pasta….Hhhmmmm…
This infraction is consistently called “slashing” instead of spearing, obviously to avoid a higher count of major penalties. It’s happened several times this year, but with no supplemental discipline. Game management is a joke. DPS is a joke. Bettman is a joke.
Barzal cross checked Krejci three times in the back before he snapped. As usual, the NHL officials caught the retaliation. Exactly why you need to keep your cool or it will cost you.
It’s not hard to watch the play and call it something other than spearing. Spearing is stabbing someone with the end of your stick, like you would with a spear. Thus the name. It was clearly a slash, nothing more. Barzal also clearly deserved it, and they both should’ve been in the box.
It is aggravating that in this day and age with camera’s every where and four on-ice officials they miss so much!! Last night there was multiple missed calls and missed penalties, the games are too tight for this to be happening year after year Maybe in the playoffs they could use video review more often to get more right?