Written by I can’t remember the last time I turned off a game on TV. Last night I was so pissed at this call that I turned the TV off and changed channels. TSN reported this morning that Jordan Staal was suspended for tonight’s game and has since then rescinded that saying now the NHL will not suspend Staal.
I will make this short and sweet. Brandon Prust of the Rangers was guilty of 3 penalties in the incident. 1. Charging Tyler Kennedy or interference because Tyler Kennedy did not have control of the puck, whichever you want. 2. Elbowing Jordan Staal, he throws an elbow to Jordan Staal’s head when confronted. Then When Jordan Staal takes a swing at him, 3. Prust dives and makes the referee look like a complete idiot.
How do you know he dived? His head goes the wrong way from the punch. Throw in the fact that Prust is second in the East in fighting majors and doesn’t go down that easy. If the referee made the call in the first place, Staal doesn’t do that.
You can watch the whole incident here: Charge, Elbow, Dive:
PS. I don’t know who the play by play guy is for Versus, but he has to be the worst. His short four word sentence then a delay then another four word sentence then a delay makes me want to reach through the TV grab his neck and tell him to start speaking like an adult. First the volume went off then the game. What a night.
How hard would it be to let line judges make calls. There’s one sitting right in the middle of the play who watches the whole thing happen. In the refs defense, the whole thing was very fast, they should give each coach 2 challenges a game and if a penalty is called, let the ref review it. The fans would want to see it, controversy drives the game. The owners would get more commercials, more money. Why Not?
Y’know we watch Cooke do this stuff all year, so a tiny stick tap to Prust, then a huge slash to the back side of the refs legs for not calling anything the douche bags.