Was Eakin's 5min major right call?

[Echo Roku]

It was a cross check

Anything more than a minor (+plus maybe the same for Stastny) is wrong

He fell awkwardly after the fact. That’s not something you can officiate to call major penalties

I don’t blame the refs too much for not realizing what all caused what... but it clearly shouldn’t have been that call

 

[Anita L]

This poll will be a great barometer for the intelligence level of the posters on this forum.

regaurdless whether the call was right or wrong the PK had no business giving up 4 PP goals on 1 penalty kill 2 should have been the max they give up. that said good night Knights your PK and goalie lost this game not the call.

 

[Le Grec]

I would confer with the linesman and my fellow referee and not take a wild guess. You still haven't explained to me how a cross check to the head that supposedly happened would even cause a guy that is wearing a full shield to suffer the injury Pavelski did.

Maybe the ref thought the injury was caused by the cross check knocking the player down and banging his head?

You're missing the big picture. In slow mo it is not a major penalty, but in real time it's a different perspective.

I shit on the refs all the time, and although the call may have been incorrect, I understand the decision...

 

[HanSolo]

Maybe the ref thought the injury was caused by the cross check knocking the player down and banging his head?

You're missing the big picture. In slow mo it is not a major penalty, but in real time it's a different perspective.

I **** on the refs all the time, and although the call may have been incorrect, I understand the decision...

But it's unclear if the refs even saw it in real time. If they did they weren't going to call anything until they saw Pavelski wasn't getting up.

 

[Sting]

Absolutely not. No bias to either team, but that was a 2 minute penalty.

 

[varano]

This is the reason why Vegas lost??? Wow... San jose was gifted that...

 

[jmichael7753]

Defitintely not a major penalty, but Vegas blaming the loss on that, is like Cubs fans blaming Steve Bartman in 2003.

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

No, it was a bad call

but it did not cost them the game or the series.

their own historical level of ineptitude on the PK cost them the game, and losing 3 straight close out games cost them the series

 

[Paris in Flames]

If you think it's the right call I severely worry about your ability to judge things rationally.

 

[Beauner]

Put yourself in the refs position.
You see a high cross check, then the player falls, is bleeding and is out.
Everything is simple in slow motion, but in real time, it's not that easy...

It's understandable in the heat of the moment, but this is why 5 minute majors NEED to be reviewable. An entire series was decided by one call, you gotta be able to double-check and make sure it's right

 

[613Leafer]

"Let the boys play", "game management", etc are bull crap philosophies you only hear about in NHL hockey. Refs are actively encouraged to use discretion and create inconsistency in how the game is called, rather than be encouraged to call penalties consistently based on the rulebook.

That crosscheck was no different than dozens or even hundreds of other crosschecks that have been done this series, which have gone without even having a minor penalty called. If the refs actually called penalties consistently, Eakins wouldn't have crosschecked Pavelski off the draw, and Pavelski wouldn't have gotten injured.

The refs actively create an environment where crosschecking is the norm, and then call a major penalty when a fluke injury happens even though the action itself wasn't any more egregious than what they'd been ignoring all game/series.

 

[bobc222]

Fairly dirty play the way he was crosschecked and then slammed into the ice hard enough to cause that major damage. The amount of force necessary to compress the skin and cause it to tear due to blunt force is extreme. Most people fail to grasp the physics involved in this situation.
Vegas fans should stop being so upset about the call and more upset they gave up 4 goals in less than 5 minutes.

 

[Joe MacMillan]

Terrible call. That didn't warrant a penalty at all. A routine hockey play, an unfortunate result.

 

[Cynick]

Fairly neutral (cheering for Karlsson but Stone is equally awesome) on this one: Maybe 2 minutes. If it was a minor, I could see it. If it went uncalled, I could see it, too. Five minutes was an atrocious decision. It was the wrong call and it underscores the reality that the NHL is reviewing the wrong plays. Things like this need to be reviewed.

 

[george14]

I want Thornton to win a Cup more than anything, but no that was not the right call. Maybe a minor.

 

[PatriceBergeronFan]

Obviously not. The officials saw nothing and fabricated the call after the result.

 

[Le Grec]

But it's unclear if the refs even saw it in real time. If they did they weren't going to call anything until they saw Pavelski wasn't getting up.

Well, I just watched the replay again and all 4 officials conferred, so someone saw something...

 

[Le Grec]

It's understandable in the heat of the moment, but this is why 5 minute majors NEED to be reviewable. An entire series was decided by one call, you gotta be able to double-check and make sure it's right

No, this series was decided by one shitty penalty kill.

And no more reviews, just deal with life as it is...

 

[KidLine93]

I don't blame the ref since it was a crosscheck and Pavelski ended up bleeding from his head, it took a review or two to see exactly what happened. But in a perfect world its a 2 minute penalty. It's no the refs fault Vegas crumbled and gave up 4 goals in 4 minutes though, and blew it in overtime to boot. Sharks played to the end and vegas got complacent simple as that.

 

[HanSolo]

Well, I just watched the replay again and all 4 officials conferred, so someone saw something...

A backside linesman well after Pavelski was down went and gave his interpretation to the refs which resulted in an erroneous belief that Eakin crosschecked Pavelski in the face.

So say this is a question of the game is too fast and this is a consequence of that. In a game 7 when you're going to make a decision as big as kicking a player out and giving the other team 1/4th of the period of uninterrupted powerplay time, maybe there should be a review process in place for such a drastic measure.

 

[JackSlater]

Bad call. Understandable, but bad.

 

[Le Grec]

A backside linesman well after Pavelski was down went and gave his interpretation to the refs which resulted in an erroneous belief that Eakin crosschecked Pavelski in the face.

So say this is a question of the game is too fast and this is a consequence of that. In a game 7 when you're going to make a decision as big as kicking a player out and giving the other team 1/4th of the period of uninterrupted powerplay time, maybe there should be a review process in place for such a drastic measure.

No review, all Vegas had to do was not give up a shit load of goals.
Bad calls happen to every team, just like injuries, it's something you gotta deal with. Vegas didn't, c'est la vie...

 

[HanSolo]

No review, all Vegas had to do was not give up a **** load of goals.
Bad calls happen to every team, just like injuries, it's something you gotta deal with. Vegas didn't, c'est la vie...

Bad calls happen to every team, yes, but major penalty calls with ten minutes to go in a game 7 that is almost convincingly decided are decidedly rare. Yes Vegas should have been better on the PK but they should have only had to have dealt with one.

 

[ohheyhemsky]

Is it a cross check? Totally.

A play-off cross check? Maybe, as refs don't tend to call anything because they're too afraid of a knock on their ego to make calls.

A 5 minute major? f*** no. Regardless of outcome, there was no intent of injury. A horrible call, that was done after the fact. The refs deserve to be let go for the rest of the playoffs.

 

[Dr Pepper]

Cross-check off the faceoff? Two minute minor, at most.

Refs got swayed by the home crowd and went so far overboard.

That said, Vegas just collapsed mentally from that call and never recovered. Can't pin the series loss on one garbage penalty, especially when they were up 3-1 and could've closed out the series on home ice in Game 6. Didn't get it done and couldn't hold on yesterday either. Tough break.