Well there was a lot of discussion, on the game thread and our post game report, over the officiating in last night’s game between the Canadiens and New York Rangers.
First hand, let’s get something clarified, right out of the NHL rulebook.
Rule 56.2, Paragraph 7
A minor penalty shall be imposed on any identifiable player on the
players’ bench or penalty bench who, by means of his stick or his
body, interferes with the movements of the puck or any opponent on
the ice during the progress of the play. In addition, should a player
about to come onto the ice, play the puck while one or both skates are
still on the players’ or penalty bench, a minor penalty for interference
shall be assessed.
Reading this paragraph, and given that Blunden was illegally on the ice, I believe this is where the rule kicked in. Therefore, bench minor for interference and interference on Blunden.
Now the other part of that..
46.11 Instigator – An instigator of an altercation shall be a player who by his
actions or demeanor demonstrates any/some of the following criteria:
distance traveled; gloves off first; first punch thrown; menacing
attitude or posture; verbal instigation or threats; conduct in retaliation
to a prior game (or season) incident; obvious retribution for a previous
incident in the game or season.
A player who is deemed to be the instigator of an altercation shall
be assessed an instigating minor penalty, a major penalty for fighting
and a ten-minute misconduct.
If the same player is deemed to be the instigator of a second
altercation in the same game, he shall be assessed an instigating
minor penalty, a major penalty for fighting and a game misconduct.
When a player receives his third instigator penalty in one Regular
season, he is automatically given a game misconduct following that
third violation.
A player who is deemed to be both the instigator and aggressor of
an altercation shall be assessed an instigating minor penalty, a major
penalty for fighting, a ten-minute misconduct (instigator) and a game
misconduct penalty (aggressor).
Any request by a Club to have an instigator penalty reviewed and
rescinded by the League must follow the same procedure for game
misconduct penalties as outlined in 23.2.
I’m pretty sure Ryan Callahan fell under paragraph 1. I’ve posted a clip of the incident after the jump, for further discussion.
More Post Game Reaction
Mitch Melnick’s The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (*guess what the latter is) on the game
Olivier breaks down scoring chances.
Chris Boucher‘s take on the game
Pierre Ladoceur grades the team’s play Saturday
J.T.’s quick take on the blown call on Mike Blunden
Dennis Kane on the snow shower problem.
HabsTV Post Game with Brian Gionta
Jeff Angus looks at former Habs who played for the Vancouver Canucks, including current ones Maxim Lapierre and Chris Higgins.
Call it lack of discipline, or bad officiating, but in any event, the team will need to put this behind them and move on to Tuesday, when they host the Edmonton Oilers.
Hal Gill on the Movember campaign.
Sidebar: Anyone see a resemblance between Cassie Cambell and HabsTV’s Evelyne Audet?
