Let the debates begin.
And please, I'm begging you... keep me out of them.
From what I saw, this is what happened tonight. The refs called the penalty on Jamie Langenbrunner with a minute left, then realized they were being too strict and swallowed their whistles the rest of the game. It wouldn't have mattered if someone pulled a Chris Simon as the game ended; they weren't going to be penalized for anything. So you saw Blair Betts commit a similar foul to the one Langenbrunner did, not to mention a few vicious hits near the boards by both teams, and yet nothing was called.
I'm not saying it's right. But isn't that part of what playoff hockey is all about? We always say things like, "The players should decide the game." Well, the players do decide every game. Up until the last minute, the game was officiated very well. The players got the chance to blow off steam after the whistle blew, but nothing got excessively out of control. We saw a couple of penalty calls that weren't penalties before the lockout, but were called tonight just as they should have been. We got exactly what we thought we'd see - a tight, physical contest that came down to the final seconds.
We also saw Brent Sutter throw a stick on the ice, looking less like a hockey coach and more like a spoiled kid who couldn't believe he wasn't getting his way. It was just the cap on an embarrassing evening for the Devils. Yet again, the arena was packed with Ranger fans. And, yet again, the Prudential Center game ops staff played music after the Rangers scored, giving the distinct impression that the Rangers were the real home team. For the second game in a row, the Devils tried a little too hard to intimidate the Rangers physically, and for the second consecutive game, it didn't work. The Devils find themselves down two games, with both games being decided by soft goals Martin Brodeur easily should have had.
And after all of that, the Devils still choose to blame the referees.
It's not a tried-and-true hockey cliche, but it's one of the more obvious sentiments you'll ever hear. If you ever find yourself in the position of blaming the officiating for a loss, you obviously didn't do enough to win the game in the first place. Instead of blasting the refs after the game, why didn't John Madden tear into his team for not taking a shot on a four-minute power play? I'm pretty sure the referees had nothing to do with that. Just the same, I doubt it was the refs that limited the Devils to four shots on ten power play minutes tonight. Of course, if you ask Brent Sutter, the referees screwed the Devils on purpose.
Now, I know how much it sucks to have the referees get in the way of a game's conclusion. But let's face facts. This was a two-minute minor penalty that occurred with a minute left. The Devils' shorthanded predicament was easily fixed by pulling Brodeur. It's not like they scored the tying goal, only to have the refs wave it off (us Islander fans know a lot about that). There was very little evidence suggesting the Devils were getting to Lundqvist no matter what. Like I said after Game 1, the great teams make their own luck, and the Rangers earned the win tonight.
By no means does this end the series. But now, the Devils have to go into Madison Square Garden, in front of a crowd that will be fully in support of the home team, and face a team they haven't beaten outside of a shootout since February 20, 2007. And if they don't win at least one game, they're out of the playoffs. Of course, this whole thing could have been avoided if not for a penalty call on Jamie Langenbrunner, who not only would have scored the tying goal, but the game-winner in overtime as well.
Why look in the mirror and try to figure out what happened when you can just blame the refs instead?
Somewhere, Brent Sutter is nodding. And the rest of us are wondering how someone who played in 144 playoff games and played in four Stanley Cup Finals doesn't know to win the game in spite of any gripes with the officiating.
So, with that in mind, count me out of the impending brouhaha about the inconsistent officiating in the playoffs. Score your goals early, play solid defense, don't let in any soft goals, and it's remarkable insignificant officiating becomes.
And please, I'm begging you... keep me out of them.
From what I saw, this is what happened tonight. The refs called the penalty on Jamie Langenbrunner with a minute left, then realized they were being too strict and swallowed their whistles the rest of the game. It wouldn't have mattered if someone pulled a Chris Simon as the game ended; they weren't going to be penalized for anything. So you saw Blair Betts commit a similar foul to the one Langenbrunner did, not to mention a few vicious hits near the boards by both teams, and yet nothing was called.
I'm not saying it's right. But isn't that part of what playoff hockey is all about? We always say things like, "The players should decide the game." Well, the players do decide every game. Up until the last minute, the game was officiated very well. The players got the chance to blow off steam after the whistle blew, but nothing got excessively out of control. We saw a couple of penalty calls that weren't penalties before the lockout, but were called tonight just as they should have been. We got exactly what we thought we'd see - a tight, physical contest that came down to the final seconds.
We also saw Brent Sutter throw a stick on the ice, looking less like a hockey coach and more like a spoiled kid who couldn't believe he wasn't getting his way. It was just the cap on an embarrassing evening for the Devils. Yet again, the arena was packed with Ranger fans. And, yet again, the Prudential Center game ops staff played music after the Rangers scored, giving the distinct impression that the Rangers were the real home team. For the second game in a row, the Devils tried a little too hard to intimidate the Rangers physically, and for the second consecutive game, it didn't work. The Devils find themselves down two games, with both games being decided by soft goals Martin Brodeur easily should have had.
And after all of that, the Devils still choose to blame the referees.
It's not a tried-and-true hockey cliche, but it's one of the more obvious sentiments you'll ever hear. If you ever find yourself in the position of blaming the officiating for a loss, you obviously didn't do enough to win the game in the first place. Instead of blasting the refs after the game, why didn't John Madden tear into his team for not taking a shot on a four-minute power play? I'm pretty sure the referees had nothing to do with that. Just the same, I doubt it was the refs that limited the Devils to four shots on ten power play minutes tonight. Of course, if you ask Brent Sutter, the referees screwed the Devils on purpose.
Now, I know how much it sucks to have the referees get in the way of a game's conclusion. But let's face facts. This was a two-minute minor penalty that occurred with a minute left. The Devils' shorthanded predicament was easily fixed by pulling Brodeur. It's not like they scored the tying goal, only to have the refs wave it off (us Islander fans know a lot about that). There was very little evidence suggesting the Devils were getting to Lundqvist no matter what. Like I said after Game 1, the great teams make their own luck, and the Rangers earned the win tonight.
By no means does this end the series. But now, the Devils have to go into Madison Square Garden, in front of a crowd that will be fully in support of the home team, and face a team they haven't beaten outside of a shootout since February 20, 2007. And if they don't win at least one game, they're out of the playoffs. Of course, this whole thing could have been avoided if not for a penalty call on Jamie Langenbrunner, who not only would have scored the tying goal, but the game-winner in overtime as well.
Why look in the mirror and try to figure out what happened when you can just blame the refs instead?
Somewhere, Brent Sutter is nodding. And the rest of us are wondering how someone who played in 144 playoff games and played in four Stanley Cup Finals doesn't know to win the game in spite of any gripes with the officiating.
So, with that in mind, count me out of the impending brouhaha about the inconsistent officiating in the playoffs. Score your goals early, play solid defense, don't let in any soft goals, and it's remarkable insignificant officiating becomes.
Good point - they shouldn't have been in a position to have the refs dictate the outcome of the game.
ReplyDeleteRegardless, the officiating was awful on both ends. Avery got his obligatory penalty just-for-being-Avery, when he stood near Brodeur, and Brodeur got his no-penalty when he cracked Avery with his stick.
Yes, Betts should have gotten a penalty (and Langenbrunner's penalty was deserved, as well), but with so much called and not called wrongly, it evened out, and the better team won.
Devils are in a bad spot - they are trying to knock the Rangers into submission but it isn't working. So what to do for Game 3? Keep trying to beat them down so they make plenty of mistakes, or actually try to make their own breaks?