But if a cross-check results in a serious injury, the player who committed the violation needs to be ejected.

Also, that 5 min penalty was bulllllllllshit.

It gets said a lot (this time of year) but man, no sport can compete with playoff hockey. It isn’t even close.

I mostly agree. I think the “correctness” with which penalties are called correlates directly with how hard they are to call, which correlates directly to how much of a “part of the game” they are.

I see people complain about this all the time (here anyway) and I don’t really get it.

No, you’re right. The only things less consistent than NHL punishment are the fan complaints about NHL punishment.

There’s nothing different about this play. It’s an incredibly unfortunate incident (mainly because the player involved is talented) but it happens 20 times a game. The guy just caught an edge and got fucked up.

Given that the shove looked pretty damn intentional, and it was the direct cause of an injury, it definitely looked like the Carolina player would get hit with a five-minute major penalty.

Honestly, I think the big takeaway for me is that norms have changed so much that anything short of the President being charged with obstruction of justice(!!) is considered a “win” for the President.

How about that beer league defence on the OT winner though?

Totally agree. We’re saying the same thing. Players have routines for a reason. When the routine is disrupted, the player sees it as problematic, thus affecting their game. This has been studied a ton. 

the call was reversed on an offsides challenge

It’s not what? Your argument is that players don’t think about things that they think affect the game? Bold stance!

Anything that affects your mental state has an effect on your game.

What’s the word for “opposite of click-bait”?

I think its naive to act as if Debrusk and the Bruins were completely innocent.

Sounds like that fight had a pretty profound impact on the game!

Right. So this is a joke or someone who doesn’t understand hockey. I’m not saying keep fighting in hockey, I’m saying that saying it doesn’t impact the outcome of the game is crazy (or just massively uninformed).

the result of that fight having no effect on the outcome of the game

I don’t see baseball players swinging bats at people.