Round 2: Columbus Blue Jackets

TheRealness

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That was exactly the type of act that warrants a suspension: hit to the head, after the play, malicious intent. It doesn’t drive me crazy when a judge (George Parros) uses the actual injury suffered by the victimized player as a modifying criterion in determining the degree of punishment, but it does when it seems to be the determining criterion. If whomever was hit in the head was carted off the ice and severely injured, we wouldn’t see Marchand until October. They’re adjudicating the outcome, not the act.

Note that I am assuming the report is accurate that no discipline is coming.
I think it warranted a fine because it was a stupid thing to do, but I also think the malicious intent or force of it are overblown. It didn’t deserve a suspension, but I am surprised there was no fine.
 

Fred in Lynn

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I encourage you two to research the definitions of “malice” and “intent.” He didn’t wind up and bury him but he also didn’t cuddle with him. It was a stoppage in play. He checked to ensure the ref wasn’t looking, then he punched him. Malicious intent. He intended to do ill will, and for no clear reason. Cut me a break, guys.

No worries. The NHL said they’d suspend him next time, so it’s all fine. I’m sure he’s learned his lesson - Mike said he’d talk to him, and tenth time’s a charm (he’s been suspended and fined 6 and 3 times, respectively, so add his history to the short list I compiled earlier).

In what seems to be a common theme today, rules of law don’t work well when the rules are arbitrarily enforced and penalties are whimsically applied. The rules either mean something or they don’t, and I tend to believe it’s the latter.
 
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Dummy Hoy

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I'm a Neanderthal but I think the impact of Marchand's punch is being terribly overblown, partially (mostly?) because it's him. It was dirty, it was sneaky, it was stupid, and heck, that probably warrants a suspension. But a rabbit punch to the back of the helmet ain't that big of a deal. Dudes get punched in the head in scrums 10 times a game in the playoffs. People are acting like that was Bertuzzi on Moore.
 

TFP

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Nowhere in the NHL rulebook do the words “malicious intent” appear. Save it with the rule of law talk, Miriam-Webster.

I agree with Dummy Hoy. It’s a cheap little play that likely didn’t bother the BJs player at all. I think it’s dumb and classless and I wish he didn’t do it, but expecting a suspension for that is idiocy. Bjrokstrand punching Krug in face multiple times while the ref breaks it up instead of calling a penalty is equal or worse in my opinion (and also not remotely suspension worthy).

Marchand’s crosscheck to Anderson was the much more dangerous and illegal play, too. That could legitimately hurt someone and is unnecessary. Keep your fucking stick down.
 
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Over Guapo Grande

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I was just coming here to ask how it was much different than Bertuzzi/Moore. Was it that everyone was at a stand-still, and didn't result in a faceplant into the ice? I am being serious-- I have face to save with Laffs fans who are telling me that Marchand should get what Kadri got.

And not sure why the Stars would be bothered by what Marchand did, @TFP .... ;)
 

kenneycb

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Yes. Bertuzzi grabbed Moore's head and drove it into the ice, all while moving. Marchand punched a guy on his knees in the back of the head while everyone was stationary.

Generally speaking, I feel a cross check is more dangerous than an average punch.
 

Myt1

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I was just coming here to ask how it was much different than Bertuzzi/Moore. Was it that everyone was at a stand-still, and didn't result in a faceplant into the ice? I am being serious-- I have face to save with Laffs fans who are telling me that Marchand should get what Kadri got.

And not sure why the Stars would be bothered by what Marchand did, @TFP .... ;)
It’s easier to list all of the things the Bertuzzi/Moore altercation has in common with this one:

1. They both happened during hockey games.
 

Over Guapo Grande

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3. Sucker punch (Playing Leafs Advocate)


And yes, I know the proper response to Laff fans is to say: "4-1, 10 minutes left in the 3rd in game 7. "
 

Red Right Ankle

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Fuck no.

Other way around.

Also, you run away after he gets knocked the fuck out from your crosscheck.
 

Kenny F'ing Powers

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Tuukka has a 2.11 GAA with a .933 save percentage this postseason. He’s been their most consistent player all playoffs. If anyone wants to criticize him, their credibility has to be questioned.
I know we've improved as a fanbase, but the desire that some fans have to drive players like Rask or Kyrie out of town continues to baffle me.

No, hes not a HoF goalie. But the dude is rarely bad, often very good, and occasionally exceptional.

Leave Britney alone.
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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It's because they want to see spectacular saves. That's simply not Tuukka's style, his hard work is done before the shot in positioning and body control.

As always: fans are idiots.
 

bigq

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I thought Columbus would put up a fight in the third, but they... didn't.
Columbus put up a pretty good fight during their power play with 7 minutes left in the third. They put five shots on goal and the Bruins could not clear the puck. That was a hell of a power play. To the Bruins’ (and Rask’s) credit they withstood the barrage.
 

bigq

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It's because they want to see spectacular saves. That's simply not Tuukka's style, his hard work is done before the shot in positioning and body control.

As always: fans are idiots.
The save in the third where the top of the shaft of his stick blocked a shot was pretty spectacular to me. While it was not a diving sprawling highlight reel play it was impressive nonetheless. Goes to your positioning comment I guess. And hockey being a game of inches.

Agree with your overall point that fans in general are idiots. ;)
 

Zososoxfan

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The team played sloppy as hell last night and still won easily, they just need to keep the foot on the gas.

I thought Columbus would put up a fight in the third, but they... didn't.
This may be semantics, but nothing about last night other than the last 5 minutes or so felt easy. In fact, I was waiting for the other shoe to drop all game and Tuukka just told CBJ to fuck off repeatedly instead.
 

soxaddict

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After watching Toronto go hard and high at Pasta from the start of the series, I thought he might be hiding an upper body injury like broken ribs that was affecting his play. But after watching him lose the puck of the end of his stick twice last night, I wonder if this isn't all about his thumb surgery.
 

The Napkin

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And had a shutout last night. The one goal was bullshit after the puck hit the netting.

Why that's not reviewable I'll never know.
It took less then a day for the league to change a rule after Avery did his stick wave thing in front of Brodeur. A thing that while silly and I suppose embarrassing to the league didn't really do anything. I won't hold my breath for them to make a similar change to fix this one.
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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It took less then a day for the league to change a rule after Avery did his stick wave thing in front of Brodeur. A thing that while silly and I suppose embarrassing to the league didn't really do anything. I won't hold my breath for them to make a similar change to fix this one.
Of course not. Not to sound like a sour jackass but this happened against the Bruins. There's no way in hell they'd rush out to fix this today.
 

oumbi

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I could not find that picture or incident anywhere. What happened?
 

CoffeeNerdness

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Feels like the B's were able to crack Columbus' one-trick pony style of play in the third last night. They tried to match them physically in previous games and that simply didn't work. They wore themselves out and took a beating. Bob is a rebound machine and they finally took advantage. Loved the purposeful missed shot by Chara. It'll be interesting to see if they stick with two D men on the PP, as well. Safe to say the PP and all the SH chances were living on the edge.

Columbus has three fluke goals (including the off the screen goal from last night) in the series and at least two that were from egregious Bruins mistakes, so tighten up the slop and continue to play like they played in the third last night and win the series. The Garden needs to be shaking on Saturday.
 

RIFan

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It's because they want to see spectacular saves. That's simply not Tuukka's style, his hard work is done before the shot in positioning and body control.

As always: fans are idiots.
This is really it. Tim Thomas flopped all over the place and fans lapped it up. It's all about economy of movement with Tuukka. Having the puck hit you in the chest because you perfectly played the angle isn't sexy. The "soft" goals he does give up are usually because he is slightly off his mark and sometimes trusts he has the goal covered and it sneaks in.

They just want to know that he cares.:cool:
Never has, never will
 

RedOctober3829

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I feel like a lot of people judge hockey with such a narrow mind. If a team wins, the goalie did great. If a team loses, well it's the goalie's fault. If someone looked at the box score last night, you see an easy 4-1 Bruins win. But Rask did so much work to keep it at 2-1 in order for that to happen. Fringe hockey fans also won't know whether a defensemen was out of place or someone else screwed up their job that left the goalie in a vulnerable position to give up a goal. Oh someone scored, must be the goalie's fault.

Everyone's favorite goalie Tim Thomas who gets remembered for such a legendary 2011 run had a number of games that season in which he did not play well. In 25 games that run, he gave up 3 goals or more 9 times. 4 of those 9 came in Bruins wins so his bad performances tend to get glossed over plus the fact that he was absolute nails in the SCF. Thomas' career playoff GAA and save % are 2.08 and .933 in 50 games. Rask's are 2.23 and .926 in 76 games. Rask's worst GAA in a playoff run is 2.88 last year but he also had the Providence Bruins defense playing in front of him for context.

The standard for Rask is set so high that anything other than a Cup is a failure. Turns out he's pretty damn good and the ones who don't realize it will miss him when he's gone.
 

FL4WL3SS

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I feel like a lot of people judge hockey with such a narrow mind. If a team wins, the goalie did great. If a team loses, well it's the goalie's fault. If someone looked at the box score last night, you see an easy 4-1 Bruins win. But Rask did so much work to keep it at 2-1 in order for that to happen. Fringe hockey fans also won't know whether a defensemen was out of place or someone else screwed up their job that left the goalie in a vulnerable position to give up a goal. Oh someone scored, must be the goalie's fault.

Everyone's favorite goalie Tim Thomas who gets remembered for such a legendary 2011 run had a number of games that season in which he did not play well. In 25 games that run, he gave up 3 goals or more 9 times. 4 of those 9 came in Bruins wins so his bad performances tend to get glossed over plus the fact that he was absolute nails in the SCF. Thomas' career playoff GAA and save % are 2.08 and .933 in 50 games. Rask's are 2.23 and .926 in 76 games. Rask's worst GAA in a playoff run is 2.88 last year but he also had the Providence Bruins defense playing in front of him for context.

The standard for Rask is set so high that anything other than a Cup is a failure. Turns out he's pretty damn good and the ones who don't realize it will miss him when he's gone.
Casual fans don't appreciate the general nuance of any sport, it's not just hockey. You could say the same about a starting pitcher in baseball.
 

hitatater

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After watching Toronto go hard and high at Pasta from the start of the series, I thought he might be hiding an upper body injury like broken ribs that was affecting his play. But after watching him lose the puck of the end of his stick twice last night, I wonder if this isn't all about his thumb surgery.
Not worth the $10 but I'm betting lingering thumb issues with some nerve damage/weirdness. Last night's puck handling looked like he couldn't feel for the puck on his stick.
Not a doctor, but I did just have Achilles surgery and the nerve block results in nerve weirdness weeks out from the surgery.
 

veritas

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Yeah, it's a pretty safe assumption that at least a few players are playing through injuries that would keep them out of regular season games. No matter how "tough" you are, pain/discomfort/numbness is *at best* going to be distracting when trying to perform fine motor skills in the middle of a contact sport. And probably a significant hindrance.

In addition to injuries, with the amount of luck and variance inherent in hockey, I generally think it's very unfair to judge players on a single postseason. Even if Pasta isn't hurt at all, maybe he's just pressing too hard or having some bad luck. But he's a career point per game player in the playoffs and I refuse to believe he isn't doing his best out there. I'm not calling out anyone on this board, but like the Tuukka stuff that's been going on for the past few years, some of the "bench Pasta" stuff I'm hearing in Boston is just absurd.
 

Kenny F'ing Powers

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Not worth the $10 but I'm betting lingering thumb issues with some nerve damage/weirdness. Last night's puck handling looked like he couldn't feel for the puck on his stick.
Not a doctor, but I did just have Achilles surgery and the nerve block results in nerve weirdness weeks out from the surgery.
I'd be surprised if they used a nerve block on him. There is a risk of permanent feeling loss with using a nerve block - it happened to me.

Cant imagine they'd think it's worth the risk on a hockey players hands...
 

cshea

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As shitty as eye test Pasta has been, he’s got 9 points in 11 games and is 2nd in scoring behind Marchand.
 

Myt1

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It's because they want to see spectacular saves. That's simply not Tuukka's style, his hard work is done before the shot in positioning and body control.

As always: fans are idiots.
It’s because his stats over the past few years have been average in the regular season and worse in the playoffs, and he makes like $7.5 million a year. Res ipsa loquitur.

He’s been nails during these playoffs. But the Tuukka complaints the past few years are about as vanilla as they could possibly be. The people leveling those criticisms aren’t the ones who needed to make up narratives about how the Bruins defense is uniquely bad and 4 out of the 5 goals he gave up one night in December were impossible to save.

We have data on this. It’s not complicated. It’s been boring for about four years now.
 

IdiotKicker

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Carlo has been absolutely outstanding this entire playoff run so far. Easily the second-best defenseman for the Bs, and his shutdown of Panarin’s last rush last night directly led to the final Bruins goal.
 

RIFan

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I love Chara and look forward to 33 being in the rafters some day, but Carlo needs to be out there with either Charlie or Gryz in the final minute. Z has been a liability in getting clears and is completely exposed with the extra skater out there.