The game started about as bizarrely as any I've ever seen.
Matt Cooke flipped Alex Edler with a devastating hip check that served as a response to Matthias Ohlund's attempt to crush Tyler Kennedy right off the opening faceoff. Soon after, Jannik Hansen had jumped Cooke and goaded him into a fight, while Tyler Kennedy and Ryan Kesler went down by the other end of the ice, and Brooks Orpik took on Alex Burrows.
Cooke and Hansen were ejected. What was crazy was the Cooke tossing-- Cooke made a totally legal play and then had to defend himself when he was jumped for no good reason. In turn, Don van Massenhoven throws him out of the game, but whatever.
The Penguins got a powerplay out of it all, and they got some good chances beofre failing to beat Roberto Luongo as the penalty expired.
Luongo left the game minutes later after twisting awkwardly in the crease, and he did not return. Backup Curtis Sanford came in.
The Nucks went up 1-0 when Pavol Demitra put in his own rebound on an ugly goal in front, beating Sabourin by an inch. It was a tough bounce over Sabourin's shoulder that led Demitra to pick up his own trash and slip it under Sabourin. Henrik and Daniel Sedin did some strong work down low to lead to the goal.
The second period was the worst of the season. The Penguins gave up an early goal, another garbage marker at the hands of the Sedin-Sedin-Demitra line, and then the Pens just crumbled.
What was great about this goal was the way that Brooks Orpik had his stick stolen from him by Daniel Sedin right as he was going to make a play. Not surprsingly, nothing was called.
They might have put three shots on Sanford in that period, and did nothing with them.
On the powerplay, the boys couldn't even manage possession for more than a few seconds before the Canucks got the puck and dumped it back toward Sabourin. As a whole, this was the kind of period that just makes you want to cut yourself.
The Great Mike Zigomanis got the Penguins back within one a few minutes into the final frame. Ziggy got the puck somehow out of a scrum just to the left of Sanford, and he slid the puck down low through the smallest of corridors into the goal.
The Pens fed off the adrenaline from that goal and continued to fly for the next few minutes. After a commercial break with 13 minutes or so left, that energy seemed to die off.
Ohlund cross-checked Maxime Talbot across the face, but nothing was called. Striped shitface Don van Massenhoven allowed the Canucks to clutch, grab, and cheap shot the Penguins for most of this period.
He called over 60 minutes worth of penalties in the first two periods, and then a mere four minutes in the third period. He put away his whistle, and it had a huge impact on the game.
After Sabourin was pulled with a minute remaining for an extra attacker, Maxime Talbot went into the corner to retrieve a puck. In the corner, he was met by Ohlund, who cross-checked him across the small of his back, sending him to the ice. With Talbot out of the picture, the Canucks cleared the puck out, and Demitra put home an empty netter to close the game out.
Nothing was called, and the game ended.
Now, I am a referee myself-- I worked two games just last evening. I know the rules of hockey inside and out, and I know that what the Canucks were doing for the last little while of that game was, by enlarge, illegal.
If a player uses his free hand to haul down an attacking player, as Canucks defenseman Shane O'Brien did to Sidney Crosby midway through the third, a holding penalty should be called.
If a player pins an opponent to the boards who does not have the puck, interference should be called. Both teams got away with this multiple times during this game.
If a player strips another player of his stick in the midst of play, interference is to be called.
Not being a homer here, just stating the rules, so I apologize for my Flyers/Caps/Wings fan impersonation. I just hate to see the impact of a game impacted so much by the guys with the whistles, not with the sticks. The Canucks still might have won, but there was just something wrong with the way this was called.
Notes-
-The Sedin Bros. are solid hockey players. They are like average third liners only with skill.
-Pavol Demitra still sucks, even though he scored today.
-I hate Matthias Ohlund. He makes up for lack of defensive skill by playing pre-lockout hockey.
-Crosby and Malkin were not themselves tonight.
-Cooke would have had an impact on this game.
-Pascal Dupuis is a fourth liner. Why is he on the first line?
-Kennedy was the Penguins' best player tonight. He would work well with Crosby.
GO PENS!
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