An overreaction? It could be, but I’m about to show you four (4) separate occasions where Kelly Sutherland and Jean Hebert were so incompetent that it wouldn’t have shocked me if the Rangers went full Youngblood.
Brendan Lemieux 2 Minute Minor Cross Checking
Uhhhh, what? This shit doesn’t even get called in beer league lol. Roman Josi even was wondering what was going on. Later in the game, Ekholm took a 2 minute penalty AFTER hammering Chris Kreider in the back no less that 3 times.
Brendan Lemieux 10 Minute misconduct
Was Lemmy looking to stir things up? Most certainly, but to kick someone out of an NHL game for bumping and pushing someone is so next level bullshit. Maybe if the referees called what was supposed to be called earlier in the game, it wouldn’t have gotten out of hand. I’m sure Lemmy didn’t help himself after the two minute call against him but nonetheless, pretty soft.
Ryan Ellis 2 Minute Elbowing
The NHL and department of player safety stroke themselves off all the time about making the game safer and eliminating headshots. This is where Ryan Ellis says, “Hold my beer.”
This is exactly how the headless horseman became headless. How in the world is the 2 minutes? It’s literally a direct shot to the head and in a world where the NHL pretends they don’t know about concussions so they don’t get sued, you’d think they would care a little bit more about plays like this.
Matching Penalty on Dante Fabro
With a ref standing right there, Jesper Fast takes 3 punches to the face and an air hump. This was like when your dog gets a little horny and starts humping everything in sight but applied to NHL ice. The craziest thing about this was the fact that the ref was standing a foot away, looking over top, and thought that it did not warrant more of a penalty. SOMEHOW, Jesper Fast is also issued a 2 minute penalty, and if it was for just taking a beating and not putting up a fight I’d agree with it. That’d be the only okay explanation.
Do the Rangers win if these are called correctly? I don’t know and I don’t really care. It’s just wild to me that referees are the biggest hardos on the planet and that their lack of calls aren’t ever really held accountable. I’ve seen missed calls but I’ve never seen 4 missed calls so blatant in my entire life. Just a damn shame.
The Morning Skate 