14 Apr '04 - + 55 - 58 Double OT exposes Kovalev
The playoffs have been underway for a week now, and there's a lot of
exciting stories out there, as usual. Sadly, the one story that caught
my attention yesterday was a disappointing end to a great game.
Last night, Montreal played a key game in their series against Boston.
Down 2-1 in the series, playing at home, the Canadiens faced a crucial
game four. They responded by playing a solid game, scoring an early
goal and at leading 3-1 halfway through the game. Boston scored a
little after midway through the second period to cut the lead to one
goal. Then, with about 30 seconds left in the game, they tied it...
sort of. The referees waved off the goal and let play continue until
the next stoppage, then reviewed it. After an agonizing wait, the
officials concluded the goal was good, and the game was tied.
Not that it's boring to watch a team come back and tie it up with mere
seconds left in the game, but it was in overtime that the real story
happened. After a period and a half of overtime hockey, Alexei Kovalev
was skating out of his own zone with the puck and was slashed in the
hand by Travis Green. Instead of playing the puck, he grabbed his hand
and stopped paying attention to the play. He then collided with his own
teammate and coughed up the puck for a game-ending breakaway.
Souray, the teammate he collided with, was not happy after the game.
Neither was Candiens coach Claude Julien. Both felt he was trying to
draw a penalty at an ill-advised time, and it's hard to disagree with
them, especially given the result.
It was a clear slash. It's rarely going to be called in an overtime
playoff game, you understand, but had it been called we might very well
be talking about what an idiot Green was. I especially like Green's
quote after the game, commenting on the acting job by Kovalev:
"If I double-handed slashed him, I'm sure his arm would be broken."
In other words, yes, Green slashed him. But on replay it looked like a
tap, and Kovalev acted like his hand was suddenly only attached by a
thread. It wasn't nearly enough to even slow Kovalev down, and you're
not going to draw a penalty on it. That's the way playoff hockey is
called (or not called). Kovalev has played in this league long enough
to know that. He should have known better than to waste his chance to
clear the puck on an attempt to draw a penalty that would never come.
Perhaps the fact that he's gotten away with worse in a critical
situation made him think he could do it again, but I'm sure the truth
is that ever since 1995 no referee in the NHL can watch him try to draw
a penalty and not initially believe he's faking it. Notice that not
even his teammates and coach are criticizing the officials on the play
- a rarity on a game-deciding non-call.
It's a shame we had to see a game end that way, when up to that point
it was such a great playoff game to watch. It's a shame Kovalev decided
to play soft while the rest of his teammates were playing the way they
needed to - hard.