Dec 20, 2015
Thumbs down to road-weary Habs, up to 3-on-3 playoff hockey
TSN's Dave Hodge gives a thumbs down to the Montreal Canadiens for doing nothing right in their first of eight straight road games, not even the little things, and a thumbs up to the Wayne Gretzky-endorsed 3-on-3 overtime format in the playoffs.
By Dave Hodge
Among other problems experienced by the Montreal Canadiens in Dallas last night was the inability to keep the puck in the rink. They couldn’t keep it out of their net, either, but let’s deal with the trivial stuff.
The Habs registered what we’ll call an “over the glass” hat trick by taking three delay of game penalties for shooting the puck into the crowd. P.K. Subban did it twice, Andrei Markov once, and while it should be said that the Canadiens wouldn’t have won the game had the glass been 20 feet high, the Stars’ two power-play goals following the Subban penalties made the night particularly miserable for him and the Montreal team.
The rule-calling for an automatic penalty when the puck is put out of play bugged me a lot when it was introduced, but only a little now. I still think the refs should be able to use judgment and call penalties only when it seems obvious a puck is shot into the crowd deliberately. However, enough time has passed that I am now more critical of the player than the ref, because we’ve all had time to accept the chintzy nature of the infraction and, simply put, it can and must be avoided.
Actually, the penalty that damaged Montreal’s cause more than the others was to rookie Michael McCaaron for closing his hand on the puck early in the second period. Patrick Sharp scored to give Dallas a 3-0 lead and that was that on the way to 6-2.
So I’ll say “thumbs down” to the Canadiens for doing nothing right in their first of eight straight road games, not even the little things.
Great Idea
Wayne Gretzky: “3-on-3 overtime is one of the best things we’ve done in hockey in the last 20 years. It’s exciting to watch.”
If 3-on-3 overtime could send thank you cards, Gretzky would get all of them, and he gets “thumbs up” from here. His endorsement of anything that goes on in the NHL is invaluable. What might Gretzky say to the idea that 3-on-3 overtime should exist in the Stanley Cup playoffs as well?
Here’s what I say: There’s no logic in taking something as great as Gretzky and others say it is and tossing it aside when the NHL’s playoff spectacle begins. By doing so, the NHL gives overtime back to the traditionalists who never liked 4-on-4 overtime, never mind 3-on-3, thus inviting the possibility of overtime marathons that hold sleep hostage.
In the regular season, the NHL makes shorter, more exciting games a priority with its overtime format. In the playoffs, it prefers longer, duller games that inevitably come when nothing changes beyond the third period. I assume the NHL’s answer is that the playoffs are exciting enough on their own that they don’t require any help. Sometimes that’s true, but then there are the other times; the times that could really use the boost that every regular-season overtime gets.