The Montreal Canadiens opened their night with a wonderful tribute to guy Lafleur ahead of their game against the Boston Bruins. It was an emotional night for the team, and they obviously wanted to get a win in honour of the departed legend. They ended the night without that win, but they all gathered under Lafleur’s banner to pay their respects after a tough loss.
Of course, the one thing I want to single out from this game was an infuriating call made against the Canadiens.
So you can just drop your stick and draw a penalty shot now? pic.twitter.com/2gRxhOtO7w
— Matt Drake (@DrakeMT) April 25, 2022
Erik Haula essentially just drops his stick after Mike Hoffman goes hands over hands, presumably due in part to the fact that he was carrying the stick with one hand. The ref specifically noted that they were ruling it a slash, which is always maddening when the stick doesn’t break and a player just dropped it.
I think the league needs to give some clarity on this, because you can’t have a situation where dropping a stick on contact can lead to a penalty shot with regularity. If this is a call they want to make all the time, eventually you’ll have players doing it intentionally, because a clear brakaway on a penalty shot will always be easier than a contested one.
To be clear, I don’t think this call is the reason they lost, but it was a contributing factor.
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