It's league-wide, too. Thought the Bruins/Panthers game tonight was also awful.
I think they're creating their own demise by trying to "let the boys play". Personally I'd love to see playoff hockey where slashing and hooking were called less than the regular season, but when it's obvious then call it (so taps on the hands are okay and sticks in the waists are okay as long as there's no hooking component to it), then roughing be reduced but punches to the face still be a penalty, more leniency on boarding but when it's dangerous it's called, only hard crosschecks be called and goalie interference still be a thing. So far what we are seeing is open season on a lot of goalies, glove punches are acceptable, boarding is acceptable, who knows what the hell the standard for crosschecks are, hooking is very rarely called and so many plays are turned over because of it but then sporadically we see a hook be called that looks like the same one we've seen 200 times in a game, interference is completely acceptable now and goalies are encouraged to be slashed and poked at and best of all, holding of the stick is no longer a penalty.
There has been so little fighting but the boys don't have to, just take a number and get one of your teammates to throw a cheap hit and it's all good. Probably won't be a penalty either lol.
It's just an inconsistent mess. Most calls seem so tacky because the standard was set and then depending on the time of the game it's somehow not or not a penalty. It's somehow more trash than in the regular season lol.
