On Tuesday evening, the Boston Bruins played host to the Carolina Hurricanes at the TD Garden in the 2nd match-up between the teams, slated for the 2011-’12 season. The Bruins entered the game with a pedestrian 2-3-0 (4 Points) record, but were coming off a hard-fought come-from-behind victory on Saturday night, over the 2010 Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks.  In the season’s first match-up between Boston & Carolina, the ‘Canes used 2 goals from their 4th forward unit to power them to a 3-2 victory over the defending Stanley Cup Champions.

Tuesday’s game was simply a self-destruction by the Boston Bruins, who lost complete control of their actions and emotions, throughout the entire evening. Lack of discipline and uncontrolled emotion would wind-up costing the B’s the game.

The first period got off to a hot start for the B’s –who were playing on home ice for the first time since a 1-0 Columbus Day loss to the Colorado Avalanche–as the offense came out guns-blazing, producing many quality scoring opportunities in the first 6 or so minutes of action. B’s forwards Nathan Horton, Tyler Seguin, Brad Marchand and Rich Peverley all had prime scoring chances on the doorstep of the Carolina goal, but were unable to capitalize. Goaltender Cam Ward came up huge time and time again for the ‘Canes throughout the 1st 20 minutes of play. Missed opportunities can always have a big impact on the overall outcome of a game:

“I think what I saw from tonight is that we start off the game well. In the first period we had some great chances, but we’re not capitalizing. And what I see is frustration setting in and the minute we start getting frustrated we lose focus of our game and then it gets worse and worse.” — Claude Julien

Unfortunately for Boston, in the midst of their flurry of scoring opportunities, the Hurricanes managed to pull ahead 1-0. It was only 2:47 into the game when B’s rookie D-man Matt Bartkowski was unable to clear the puck out of Tuukka Rask’s crease, and ‘Canes forward Anthony Stewart capitalized. The goal was Stewart’s 2nd of the season and 2nd against Boston in 2 games this season. The most alarming aspect of it for Boston, was that once again they had let an opposing team’s 4th line register a goal against them. The goal was however not a reflection of the play of Tuukka Rask through the first 20, as he was rock solid between the pipes, including making 3 saves on point-blank chances from ‘Canes’ agitator Chad Larose.

Th worst news to come out of the 1st period for the B’s was that of an injury to former Carolina blue-liner Joe Corvo. At the half-way mark of the 1st, Corvo was hit up high by Hurricanes’ rookie forward Brett Sutter, and went down hard into the corner boards behind Rask. Whilst  the hit was not exactly earth-shattering, it was rather dispicable coming from a player participating in only his 10th career NHL game. The good news is that Corvo did return to the Boston line-up at the start of the 2nd period, however the long term effects (if any) of the hit are still yet to be determined.

The 2nd period began with much of the same for the Bruins, as they started off the 2nd frame with a flurry of scoring opportunities that they were unable to capitalize on. Early in the 2nd, B’s agitator Brad Marchand was sent to the box for charging, and the ‘Canes were given their 1st Power-Play chance of the night. Luckily for the B’s, their superb play on the penalty kill continued, lead by some great plays from Gregory Campbell, they managed to kill off Marchand’s penalty. However, after yet another failed power-play chance for Boston, Carolina extended their lead, as defenseman Joni Pitkanen blasted a slap-shot past fellow Finn Tuukka Rask from the top of the left circle. Despite making some important saves thus far for the B’s, Pitkanen’s goal was one that Rask would sure like to have back.

From there, the Bruins began to show their first signs of emotion on the ice since opening night’s banner-raising ceremonies. After Nathan Horton & Patrick Dwyer were jawing at one another in front of Cam Ward’s net, it was B’s captain Zdeno Chara who absolutely blew his lid. Chara made a bee-line for the scrum and started pummeling the first guy in a white sweater who he could get a hold of. That unlucky soul was ‘Canes D-man Jay Harrison. The melee would expand and go on for another few minutes, as Ruutu and Lucic exchanged pleasantries and Tuukka Rask made his way into the Carolina end of the ice. Rask & Cam Ward came face-to-face, as it appeared that Rask wanted a piece of Ward in the worst way; Ward wanted no part of it. The B’s would kill off the ensuing 5-on-3 and the subsequent 5-on-4 power-plays, as their PK continues to shine. Captain Zdeno Chara took perhaps the smartest 17 PIMs of his career, as his dismantling of Jay Harrison was done in an attempt to kick-start his team, who had played a rather emotionless game thus far. Chara’s teammate Chris Kelly certainly appreciated his  captain’s efforts. When asked of the meaning and impact of Chara’s fight, Kelly  had this to say:

Yeah, obviously, Zee’s our captain and he’s going to stick up for every one of us and I’m sure every guy will do the same for him so that’s really all that was. – Chris Kelly

The third period was really where the madness began. At the 10:30 mark of the final frame, B’s 3rd-line center Chris Kelly dropped the gloves with Carolina rookie Brett Sutter. The fight evolved after a brief 3-way altercation between Milan Lucic, Tim Gleason, and Bryan Allen; all three were given 2-minute roughing minors. Perhaps the most controversial outcome of this scrap was the discrepancy in calls made by the on-ice officials. In the 2nd period, B’s D-man Zdeno Chara was issued a 10-minute misconduct for being the “3rd Man In” between Harrison & Nathan Horton, but in the 3rd, when Allen interrupted Lucic & Tim Gleason, he was merely given a 2-minute minor. Albeit, Chara’s influence on the outcome of the scrap was far greater than that of Bryan Allen’s, the principle act remains the same.

Shortly there-after the Bruins would get themselves back into the game, when Rich Peverley (Corvo, Seidenberg) capitalized on the B’s 4th power-play chance of the night, making it a 2-1 game. Boston’s PP goal will obviously and understandably go over-looked in tonight’s debacle but was certainly a positive sign, for a team that comes out of  Tuesday’s game with a lot to learn. Peverley had this to add, when asked about his power-play goal: “Yeah it’s good that we got one on the power play but it doesn’t matter now because we lost the game. We lost the game and that’s the most important thing.”

After the Peverley goal, the Bruins looked to be a re-energized squad, as the crowd was roaring, the hits were coming at a fast & furious pace. However, a mere 0:31 seconds after Peverley made it a 1-goal game, Nathan Horton took an unnecessary double-minor (roughing) and a game misconduct, when he threw ‘Canes D-man Tim Gleason to the ice, unprovoked (physically). The penalty forced Boston to the PK for 4 minutes, which at that point was nearly half the remaining time on the clock. To be fair to Horton, Gleason did nothing but turtle each and every time he was approached or challenged, by anyone in a black sweater. However, there is no better word to describe Horton’s actions, other than “undisciplined”. While some may argue that Horton was provoked by Gleason’s chirping & chippy style of play, it is impossible to defend the action of taking a penalty such as that one immediately after your team has fought back into the game. Horton’s penalty completely shut-down all the momentum that the B’s had amassed, and put Carolina on another extended power-play in one foul swoop.

From there the game went from bad to ugly, as the penalty minutes just kept on coming  for the Bruins. Overall, the B’s were given 82 Penalty Minutes –compared to Carolina’s 22– including 5 game misconducts (Chara, Lucic, Horton, Marchand, and Head Coach Claude Julien). Boston spent the majority of the game’s final nine and a half minutes attempting to kill 5-on-3 power-plays for Carolina. Unfortunately for the B’s, their stellar PK was unable to contain the ‘Canes all night. Eric Staal  would capitalize first, when he made it 3-1 at 13:26 of the 3rd.  Only 1:32 later, Tuomo Ruutu put the nail in the coffin, when he made it 4-1, off of a beautiful cross-ice pass from Chad Larose.

Tuesday’s game was a classic case of “too much emotion”. There are nights when opposing teams are afraid of facing the “Big Bad Bruins”; tonight was simply not one of those nights. The B’s lost total control of their emotions as the game went on, allowing the Hurricanes’ players to get under their skin. Whether you agree with the tactics or not, you must give credit to the Carolina Hurricanes for playing on the edge and successfully getting the Bruins off their game.  The Bruins must control their aggression and learn to play on the edge, while maintaining control of their emotions.

“I think we’re at our best when we’re playing at a bit of an edge, but a controlled edge. Going out there, working hard, finishing our checks, getting the puck in, sticking up for one another, but not to the point where we’re in the box for the majority of the third period.” — Chris Kelly

“Yeah, sometimes you go after a guy or a guy goes after someone and when someone comes after him he won’t dance with the bell, you know that happens. He has a choice, sometimes you chose not to and that’s part of the game but you can’t really let that affect how you play. It happens to us too so we know it’s part of the game especially when they have a lead, they’re not going to try to engage in anything that will give us momentum and that’s all they were trying to do is stay away from that stuff.” –Brad Marchand

 

“You know. we stuck up for each other. That’s important. But at the end of the day we lost the game. And now we’re 2-4.” — Rich Peverley

For Boston, the loss comes as their 3rd in only 4 games at TD Garden, thus far in the 2011-’12 season. As they continue the season, they must be a stronger team to play against on home-ice, as 9 of their next 11 games will be right here in the Hub.

KEY STATS

Goals–                CAR (4)   BOS (1)

Shots–                CAR (23)   BOS (34)

Power-Play–   CAR(2-9)   BOS (1-4)

Penalty-Kill–  CAR (3-4)   BOS (7-9)

Three Stars….. 3.) Brandon Sutter …..2.) Joni Pitkanen …..1.) Cam Ward

What’s Next?

The Bruins will continue their 4-game home-stand, as they host the NorthEast Division-leading Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday evening at TD Garden. The Leafs (3-0-1 (7 Points)) will host the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday night at the Air Canada Centre, before traveling to Boston to take on the Bruins. It will be interesting to see who head coach Ron Wilson starts in goal on Wednesday night. It is unlikely he will use either goaltender in back-to-back nights, therefore, the B’s may see Swedish netminder Jonas Gustavsson in the Toronto crease, on Thursday. Former B’s winger Phil Kessel is currently paying huge dividends for Toronto, posting 6-3-9 totals with a +6, through 4 games this season. For Carolina, it’s another quick turn-a-round, as they take on the St. Louis Blues Friday evening at the Scottrade Center.
Thanks For Reading!

Be Sure To Follow Me On Twitter: @BWoodward_HI and “LIKE” the HockeyIndependent Bruins Page !

twitter.com/PenguinsMarchHockey Independent on Facebook

While nobody in hockey can agree on a panacea that would deter and eliminate concussion-causing hits from the NHL while maintaining necessary, clean bodychecking in the sport, it is clear that there is a sense of urgency to formulate new ideas to combat the small but strikingly appalling and severe injuries that are resulting from certain types of contact in the modern NHL where the speed of players has accelerated greatly.

Commissioner Gary Bettman announced that a Concussion Working Group protocol, produced jointly by the league and the NHLPA, will become effective next week.  When it is suspected that a player has received a concussion, he can no longer be simply assessed on the bench.  He must be taken to the dressing room where a medical doctor (not a team trainer) will perform a thorough assessment.  The player must pass the Sport Concussion Assessment Tool test before he can return to the ice.  This is a logical and sensible amendment as it will reduce bias on the part of a team or player whose competitive instincts may normally override his sense of personal safety.

Bettman also called for further working groups and studies to improve player equipment, rink layouts and to amend current disciplinary processes related to dangerous hits.  In addition to the new concussion protocol, he wants NHL VP of hockey and business development Brendan Shanahan to work with the NHLPA on creating safer equipment.  Bettman also suggested fining teams and coaches whose players repeatedly deliver hits to the head, studying arenas to see if structures can be changed to reduce catastrophic injuries and finally, the creation of a four-man panel – Shanahan, Tampa Bay GM Steve Yzerman, former defenceman Rob Blake and Dallas GM Joe Nieuwendyk – to further study how to reduce the incidence of concussions.

Ironically, as the GMs began their meetings in Florida, Penguins’ star captain Sidney Crosby practiced briefly by himself in full gear for the first time since he suffered hits to the head in consecutive games in early January resulting in a concussion that has sidelined him for the past 29 games.  Crosby skated in Pittsburgh for about 15 minutes, taking shots and performing stick-handling drills.  While no observer believes that Crosby is anywhere close to game-shape – Crosby himself refuted that notion – it is a positive sign that one of the game’s pre-eminent players is back on his feet, cautiously practicing while the managers of the game brainstorm ideas to better protect Crosby and all players.

In a brief interview, Crosby also hinted that he would like to see a total ban on deliberate hits to the head, but cautioned that it “will be up to the people making disciplinary decisions whether [the head] was targetted” in cases where accidental contact occurs.

Click here to view the embedded video.

___________________________________________

Video clip: penguins.nhl.com

• Bench penalties like too many men on the ice or abuse of officials
• A coincidental minor with one player getting a second penalty (usually called the “extra two”)
• Penalties on the goalie, since he can’t really go sit in the box

When I was looking at my stats database, I wondered who wound up in the box in these scenarios. Was it always the same guy or set of guys?

Obviously, this has no meaning whatsoever, other than maybe to tell us who should be named “Least Likely to Kill a Penalty”, but hey, it’s the middle of summer. What else are you going to read about?

Here are the players who have served the most penalties that they didn’t commit – I’m listing everyone that has served 8 or more.

Penalties are always a major source of discussion when watching a hockey game. Referees at any level have a thankless job that will always leave someone unhappy. As a player and a fan, all you’re looking for from the men in the stripes is consistency. If you’re going to make a call in the first and second, you should make the same call in the third.

Unfortunately, most of the NHL referees don’t do this.

Let’s start with some background information.  In the 2009-2010 season, there were 12328 penalties called, which works out to about 10 per game (as there are 1230 games in each regular season).

The breakdown by period is:

• First period: 4062
• Second period: 4420
• Third period: 3745
• Overtime: 101

Now here are the most common calls, broken out by period. Pay special attention to Hooking and Interference:

The interesting thing to note here is that there’s a drastic difference in Hooking and Interference between the first two periods and the third period. In fact, those two penalties decrease 27% between the second and the third periods. All other calls (not including Fighting) decrease just 8%.

I think this is a big problem because not making these calls slows down the speed of the game in the third. If the Hooking and Interference are happening without being called, then we’re slowly degenerating back to pre-lockout hockey. It also infuriates the players and the fans because there is no consistency in what is happening on the ice from the referees.

You could argue that there are less calls in games that are out of reach, but most games are not out of reach (just look at all the games that go to overtime). Unfortunately, that argument doesn’t hold much water when you look at the numbers of some of the refs. I think 27% is too much of a drop, and the chart below shows the top 12 offenders in the NHL in terms of the % drop in H&I calls from the second to the third period.

A quick word about the numbers shown below: There is no way to identify which referee made each call based on the data publicly available from the NHL. The best I can do is “associate” a call with a ref. That means that when you look at Mr. Auger’s 90 calls in the first period, what I’m really saying is that Mr. Auger worked games where 90 calls were made in the first. He didn’t necessarily make them all. It makes the data slightly less useful, but I think some obvious trends still emerge.

Here are the least consistent referees in the NHL in making Hooking and Interference calls in the third period:

To me, the real problems are the folks who are consistent for two periods and then drop off the planet with their numbers. That would be Justin StPierre, Stephane Auger, Bill McCreary, Rob Martell, Brad Watson and Dennis LaRue. I’m not letting the other guys off of the hook, but they’re inconsistent the entire game. These guys seem to judge the situation and subscribe to the “let the players decide the outcome” mantra. In my mind, if you don’t make the calls, you aren’t letting the players decide. Not making the calls is what let the “Old NHL” be the best source of water-skiing videos that weren’t filmed on a liquid surface. If you want to “let the players decide the outcome”, make the calls consistently.

In case you’re wondering, there were two refs whose calls for H&I actually increased from the second to the third: Greg Kimmerly and Chris Ciamaga. You can see more detail over on the original posts at Igloo Dreams (links at the bottom of this post)

Thoughts are welcomed and encouraged.

If you have ideas for other data to analyze, feel free to suggest them. I have some future posts in the works, but I’m sure there are lots of things I haven’t thought of.

The data that I’m presenting here is from the 2009-2010 regular season. It was gathered from NHL.com play-by-play reports. There were 1230 games in the regular season – I’m missing data from one game. The spelling of the names in this post are as they appear in the box scores of the games on NHL.com

This blog entry is a summarization of two longer, more detailed posts over at Igloo Dreams.  Part 1 is here and part 2 is here.

When the Penguins and Senators skated to their respective locker rooms after the first period last evening, few observers could have predicted the fireworks that exploded in Scotiabank Place during the second period.  Evgeni Malkin’s fourth goal of the series and third power play marker at 11:50 gave Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead at first intermission.  In the second, Ottawa came out with desperation, outhitting the Pens 6-2 in the opening two minutes of the period.  However, like Sunday night in Canada’s capital when the Penguins capitalized on many Ottawa mistakes, a risky no-look backhand pass by Jason Spezza at the Pens’ blue line backfired.

Sergei Gonchar pounced on the puck and started a rush up-ice.  He passed the puck to Chris Kunitz, who had Sens’ defenceman Anton Volchenkov draped over him.  The puck drifted off Kunitz’ stick in the Ottawa slot to a streaking Sidney Crosby who fired a wrist shot through Brian Elliott’s pads.  Twelve seconds later, it was Elliott who made a costly mistake and Maxime Talbot and Matt Cooke collaborating to capitalize on it.  After the Penguins won the faceoff following Crosby’s goal, they dumped the puck in behind the Ottawa goal where Elliott tried to clear it along the near boards.  Talbot picked off the clearing attempt and passed to Cooke in the slot who one-timed a wrist shot to give the Pens an abrupt 3-0 lead.

twitter.com/PenguinsMarchHockey Independent on Facebook

Time out, Ottawa.

By the end of Crosby’s next shift, it was time out for Elliott and 4-0 for the Penguins.  Two quick transition passes from Kunitz and Gonchar moved the puck out of the Pens’ zone to Crosby, skating down the right wing.  With plenty of time and space, Crosby unleashed a wrist shot from the top of the near circle past the blocker of Elliott, ending the goaltender’s night at 6:12 of the second period after four goals allowed on nineteen shots.  Pascal Leclaire entered and found the waters just as rough, yielding three goals on twenty-three shots.

To their credit, Ottawa refused to roll over and concede the contest, but continued to hit every white sweater in sight, trying to avoid the indignity of losing two straight playoff games at home.  Less than a minute after Crosby’s second goal, Chris Neil jammed in a loose puck not completely covered by Marc-Andre Fleury to get the Sens on the board.  Then, at 10:59 of the period, captain Daniel Alfredsson scored his first of the series on a hard one-timer to cut the deficit down to two.  When Jordan Staal committed a hooking penalty 46 seconds later, the home crowd was back into the game and the momentum pendulum appeared to swing sharply back to Ottawa.

But in the pivotal moment of the game, when it appeared the Penguins were bending, they doggedly refused to break.  They played with determination in a hostile environment; they played with pride; they played like defending Stanley Cup champions.  On that penalty kill, with top defensive forward and just-announced Selke Trophy finalist Staal in the box, Pittsburgh caught yet another break when a hard hit by Matt Cullen on Brooks Orpik unhinged a pane of glass in the far corner of the Penguins’ zone, stopping play just as Alfredsson was winding up for a shot.  Half a minute later, Craig Adams broke out shorthanded, one-on-two.  Adams skated into Ottawa territory and sent a backhanded shot on net.  Talbot, who joined the rush late, timed his arrival perfectly and deflected the puck with one hand past Leclaire, bumping the lead to 5-2.

Two more times Ottawa would cut the lead back down to two goals, but each time, Pittsburgh responded with goals of their own to deflate the Senators’ hopes of a comeback.  It would be easy for a nitpicker to be critical of the Pittsburgh penalty kill yet again, but both Ottawa power play goals came when they enjoyed 5-on-3 advantages.  If anything, the moral of the story tonight is that the Penguins will need to be more disciplined and stay out of penalty trouble in Game 5.  Their minutes in the box have increased from 8 to 11 to 12 to 16 from games 1 to 4.

Overall, it was another solid road win by the Penguins.  The top line of Bill Guerin, Kunitz and Crosby combined for 3 goals, 5 assists and a +9.  It is becoming redundant to describe the value and quality of Crosby’s contributions.  The simple stat line tells the story sufficiently: 4 GP-4G-7A-11PTS-1SV.

Pick your own superlative.

Sidney Crosby entered the day with 49 goals, trailing Alexander Ovechkin and Steven Stamkos by one on the goal-scoring chart.  While Ovechkin was held without a goal in Washington’s final game, Stamkos scored an empty-netter with thirteen seconds left to finish with 51.  Meanwhile, Crosby stormed the Isles, scoring twice and adding three assists for final totals of 51 goals, 58 assists and 109 points, second only to Henrik Sedin’s 112.  (Ovechkin also finished with 109 points but will be officially listed third on the scoring standings due to Crosby’s greater number of goals).  Crosby and Stamkos are the first co-winners of the Rocket Richard Trophy since 2004 when three players shared the award.  Crosby becomes the eighth Penguin to reach 50+ goals in one season and the first since Jaromir Jagr who scored 52 in 2001.

twitter.com/PenguinsMarchHockey Independent on Facebook

Eric Tangradi, 21, one of the team’s top forward prospects, made his NHL debut 28 seconds into this afternoon’s game, skating on a line with Jordan Staal and Tyler Kennedy.  Wearing uniform #56, Tangradi recorded 13:49 of ice time including 2:45 of power play work.  Tangradi notched 3 shots on goal and dished out a team-high 3 hits.  His unexpected appearance in the lineup was necessitated by recent injuries to several forwards.  Chris Kunitz, who was acquired with Tangradi from Anaheim last season, missed his fourth straight game after absorbing a hit at home against Atlanta on April 3.  Last night, Matt Cooke was staggered and did not return to the ice after taking a hard punch to the face from Thrasher Evander Kane during a second period fight.  With Cooke out for today’s contest, the Penguins were left with eleven forwards, paving the way for Tangradi’s call-up from the AHL.

As the eagerly-awaited post-season finally arrives, it is difficult to assess this year’s edition of the Penguins.  One year ago, while there was no doubt that Pittsburgh, 18-3-4 in their final 25 games, was red-hot, reasonably healthy and confident heading into the playoffs, the same simply cannot be said about the present team.  Inconsistency has marked and marred most of the calendar year 2010.  If the regular season is broken into three segments, one can see that the Pens lived up to the title of defending Stanley Cup champions for their first 36 games, stumbled badly over the next 26 games from Christmas to the Olympic break, then concluded the season with a stretch of 20 up and down games.

From the chart above, the Penguins .625 mark post-Olympics appears to show that the players fixed a listing ship after the Vancouver Winter Games ended.  However, that record belies the fact that Pittsburgh struggled to a 7-6-3 (.531) finish after starting off March with four straight wins.  During this concluding stretch to the season, the Pens were twice defeated in overtime by the improved but still mediocre Hurricanes and egregiously, were shut out at home by Tampa Bay, provoking a closed-door team meeting after the game.  Additionally, the Penguins lost twice to New Jersey and twice to Washington, finishing the season a perfect 0-6 against the Devils and 0-2-2 against the Capitals.

It is worth noting that Evgeni Malkin missed eight games and Sergei Gonchar missed four games during this time.  Earlier this season, the pair missed a large segment of games from mid-October to mid-November also due to injuries and the Penguins also struggled, especially on the power play.  Encouragingly, Malkin played three consecutive games and Gonchar five, to close out the season and the two seem to be healthy as the playoffs begin.  Without them, the Penguins’ offence is simply inadequate for playoff battles.

When the puck drops on Wednesday night, the Penguins must find a way to overcome their inconsistency and play their best hockey of the season.  Avoiding careless passes at the blue line that may be picked off by opposing forwards, helping Marc-Andre Fleury by clearing out traffic from in front of the net, creating traffic in front of the enemy goal and capitalizing on power plays are statements that have been repeated countless times this season.  They still ring true as Ottawa awaits and must be fulfilled if the Penguins hope to travel the long path for a second straight year on the way to the Stanley Cup.

The Capitals compounded their stuggles with another habit that is even more dangerous than the previous mentioned. This habit is taking bad penalties at the most inopportune times. I would define inopportune in this scenario as anytime in the third penalty when nursing a small lead. Penalties with under ten minutes I would define as catastrophic. No big deal for the Caps though, as they were successful at taking inopportune penalties three times last night. Brendan Morrison, Ovechkin, and Clark all got whistled for infractions. The Senators made us pay scoring the equalizer on the power play that was preceded by Ovechkin’s interference minor. For the record, I thought that was a bad call. Looked to me like OV was finishing his check with a little extra gusto. Nothing out of the ordinary. Regardless, a bad call is no excuse. With time dwindling down in the third period players must be responsible for their bodies, sticks, legs, etc. You can’t always blame the officials.
Chris Clark violated one of hockey’s cardinal rules. Taking a penalty in the offensive zone is a no-no. For a second I thought Alex Semin was actually in the game but wearing Chris Clark’s jersey. Us Caps fans have become accustomed to offensive zone penalties by Semin. I’m not trying to knock Semin, but that is an area that needs a little improvement. Luckily the Caps penalty killers were able to kill the penalty and force overtime.
The Caps have developed habits that they can recover from, now. But imagine it’s playoff time or it’s late in the season and the Caps are fighting for the top seed in the east? A habit is defined as the following: “an acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary”. In other words, habits become engrained in someone’s behavior that they eventually don’t even realize the habit is occurring, or worse, don’t have the ability avoid the habit. This has the potential to kill the Caps come playoff time. Unless the Caps figure out a way to break these bad habits, disaster looms. Demons will come back to haunt this team unless those demons are exercised early in the season.

When March and April come around the Caps should already know how to win, instead they may be trying to figure out how not to lose.

Not all news was bad last night. A big congratulations to Jay Beagle who recorded his first NHL goal. Beagle was one of four AHLers in the lineup last night for the Caps. Mathieu Perreault, Andrew Gordon, and John Carlson also got jerseys from coach Boudreau. Perreault continues to impress the coaching staff with his grit, speed, hustle, and offensive upside. Perreault now has 2 goals and 4 assists totaling 6 points. What is more impressive and more important to a team that is struggling defensively is Perreault’s +6 rating. Boudreau is showing he has trust is Perreault as he has seen ice time in almost all situations, including power play time. With Boyd Gordon out, again Perreault should have a spot with the top team for the foreseeable future. This will eventually present a difficult scenario for Caps management. Keep Perreault with the top team or send him back to Hersey. For me it’s a no brainer, Perreault deserves a spot with the Caps.

Caps entertain the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday. The Caps players should be furious with themselves. Hopefully they will show up for a full 60 minutes.

twitter: twitter.com/JCScriven

Is it time for the NHL to review how penalties are called?

If you didn’t catch the Dallas Stars-Calgary Flames game last week, there was an overtime penalty called that ended up costing the Stars the game. Nicklas Grossman was called for a delay of game penalty after he shot a puck over the glass. It was a bad judgement call to say the least. Grossman shot the puck out of play from the neutral zone, two feet past his own blue line when it was thought he was behind the blue line. The result was a 4-on-3 powerplay for the Flames and Jarome Iginla scored shortly after the penalty was called.

Errors like this can happen. It’s unfortunate, but split second decisions are a tough thing to get right. But do these kinds of decisions need to be made in split seconds?

I don’t think so.

Why can’t referee’s use video replay to get the call right? The play is dead, a new puck is needed and there’s going to be a faceoff anyways. The time it would add to any given hockey game would be well worth it to ensure correct calls are made. Yes, it might push games over the 2 1/2 hour sweet spot the NHL has tried to maintain, but it’s important for teams and for the NHL’s general credibility.

Would it second guess referee’s on-ice judgement? It’s a glass half full/half empty debate. I look at it like reinforcing the right call – another weapon in the arsenal; the glass half full. Imagine the Dallas Stars miss the playoffs by one point this season. That could make or break the season and careers (players and management) as well as cost the organization hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenue. All because we didn’t take 30-45 seconds to view a replay?

I’m not suggesting referee’s use video replay every time an infraction is thought to be made. Many penalties are called by the discretion of the NHL referee’s and I’m fine with that. But for black and white calls (such as this delay of game example), why not give ref’s the option of video replay?

The emphasis should be on making the right call. And had the referee’s used video replay last week, the Stars wouldn’t have lost that point – at least not on a sequence that wasn’t their fault.

All pro sports go through similar pains, but I feel like the NHL has seen more than it’s fair share of defining (and avoidable) blunders. In keeping with the Dallas theme and fresh off the heels of Brett Hull’s Hockey Hall of Fame induction, who can forget his Stanley Cup foot-in-the-crease-goal?

Stay classy, video replay needing referee’s.

–

Burgundy is the chief editor for Stayclassy.net. Follow him on Twitter (@Stay_Classy) or email him.