Why Do The Rules Change In The Playoffs?

[North Cole]

they don't ? The NFL routinely doesn't call pass intereference near the end of the game and if there is something MORE subjective than an umpires strike zone, i'd like to know what it is.

all officiating is subjective, and refs do not want to be the guy to decide a contest where they are not one of the two teams competing. So as the importance goes up. the players are given wider berth.

and I'm just wondering, do you think that refs swallowing the whistle is a NEW thing, or it is when you started watching you didnt notice it ?

I mean, they called Pass interference at the 2-yd line, in the game winning OT drive of the last superbowl. So that is objectively wrong.

I would agree that they don't want to decide the game, but that is actually one of the problems; when they call something they feel they are required to have a "make-up" call. That's where the issues arise, because the make-up all is usually total ****. The make-up is some weak hook, and then other people say, "what about the 5 other same hooks that went uncalled.

 

[stampedingviking]

Because they dont want the games to slow down and be pp after pp after pp.

The part of the playoffs that makes it more exciting is the intensity if you call every little ticky tac call the games slow down and the intensity lowers.

In other words, they want cheats to prosper.

If it's a penalty in game 1 of the season it should also be a penalty in the playoffs.

 

[Cupless44]

I'm finding many games to be a struggle to watch. I like hard nosed hockey, but I don't like skill players being completely neutralized by hacks and slashes at every turn.

The rules are not enforced as written, which allows the rats to thrive, which results in a terrible product.

Only league that does that. In the NFL pass interference call is the same in pre-season as it is in the Super Bowl.

I like physical hockey as well, but the hacking and nonsense that the skill players are hunted down means a less watchable product.

 

[Street Hawk]

Or... maybe we would see less all kind of slashes etc. because you would actually get called for it?

Only works if the refs call it through out the game(s). Which doesn't happen. Don't think NHL refs have the guts to call that many penalties on one team. Raiders last season against TB broke the record for most penalties against in a winning effort with 24.

Never going to see that in the NHL. Not enough patience from fans and media to suffer the pain necessary to drill it into playoff Hockey. Too much on the line.

 

[Seanaconda]

They should just be consistent all year. Shouldnt have to make a playoff team that can win by playing dirty

 

[Hackett]

Only works if the refs call it through out the game(s). Which doesn't happen. Don't think NHL refs have the guts to call that many penalties on one team. Raiders last season against TB broke the record for most penalties against in a winning effort with 24.

Never going to see that in the NHL. Not enough patience from fans and media to suffer the pain necessary to drill it into playoff Hockey. Too much on the line.

I feel like the NHL was calling tons of penalties in the playoffs coming out of the lockout and the next few years. Then, they seemed to get a bit lazy with that standard, or maybe some powerful people complained about it.

 

[justonetime]

The league is owned and managed by cowards. In every other sport, the intensity also ratchets up in the playoffs.

But only in hockey does it devolve into some XFL type of thuggery where the winner wins by taking out the other team's star players.

Refs can set the tone early in the game or early into a series. They simply choose not to. The rules are clear.

I've been watching the game since the mid-1980s, and I'm all for "tough" hockey but played within the rules. Finish checks, make big hits, but the spearing, slashing, and cheapshots need to go.

I agree 100%.

Pushing defenseman into their own goalies is another aspect of playoff hockey I detest. It's cheap, it can hurt arguably the most important position player, and has nothing to do with hockey. But for some reason it's let go. (Until a big market goalie is hurt most likely)

 

[bobg1]

Because the league wants a blood bath. They want games where you can't even have a clean line change for both teams at the same time.

What bloodbath are you referring to???? Don't see a lot of fighting in the playoffs

 

[bobg1]

It is actually ridiculous. Basically only blatant trips, high sticks and headshots are called. It is what it is, and what it has been, but no I don't think it's right at all.

So you want to see every bump subject to a penalty

 

[JLo217]

Kesler, Getz and Perry should be looked at a lot closer. I understand letting the game be played, but Kesler elbowed Johansen to the head in passing. That isn't necessary. Sure chirp the guy, give him a bit of grief, grab his stick a bit. But the amount of hits that are getting pretty close to being late, and are pretty big hits that really serve no purpose other than to prove a point are fun for the home crowd, but IMHO penalties and not necessary.

That said I think it was Forseberg who got away with a speer, thats gotta be called too obviously. Not sure how that got missed.

 

[carter333167]

It's a trade-off...you get to watch the best playoff sport in the world BUT you must swallow some of the worst major sport officiating in the world. You can't always get what you want.

 

[justonetime]

So you want to see every bump subject to a penalty

Like most people in this thread, I believe he would prefer the rules to be called consistently, and not in a way that rewards scrubs for being scrubs. That's my feelings at least.

 

[Osprey]

The effort, intensity and physicality goes up in the playoffs, so players flirt with and cross the line more often. If everything were called exactly as it is in the regular season, the games would be mostly powerplays. No one wants that.

Also, I'd say that the rules during the regular season exist largely to manage entertainment (let skilled players shine and ensure plenty of exciting powerplays) and limit injuries, since the league is a business. You don't want attendance to suffer because games are boring and good players have been injured, and you don't want those injured star players to miss the players. In contrast, during the playoffs, the rules are relaxed because the games are naturally entertaining (because of the stakes), fans wants to see teams beat each other 5 on 5 (i.e. not because one got more powerplays than the other) and injuries are practically expected and many are played through.

In other words, the regular season isn't so much about establishing who's best, but just providing entertainment and revenue and setting things up for the playoffs. The playoffs, on the other hand, are about establishing who's best. It's simply better to decide who advances by who is better at 5 on 5 than by who is better on the powerplay. Most people probably wouldn't want a team like the Caps to win the Cup simply because they're the best on the powerplay and best able to take advantage of penalty-filled games, due to everything being called like in the regular season. Most would want the team which is best at 5 on 5 hockey to win, since that's likely the more accurate measurement of which is the better team. You want to reward the better team in the playoffs, not the better powerplay.

 

[kingsholygrail]

I feel like the NHL was calling tons of penalties in the playoffs coming out of the lockout and the next few years. Then, they seemed to get a bit lazy with that standard, or maybe some powerful people complained about it.

That was a symptom of them cracking down on clutch and grab hockey out of the lockout. Once players either adjusted or essentially played themselves out of the league, PPs naturally went down.

 

[MikeK]

Happens every year. If they called the game like they do in the playoffs during the regular season we would have a different bracket of teams. Some who missed would probably make it and some who made it likely miss. I personally like the way they call playoff games and wish we would see it during the season but at least pick a side and stay consistent.

 

[Arturs Irbe]

Happens every year. If they called the game like they do in the playoffs during the regular season we would have a different bracket of teams. Some who missed would probably make it and some who made it likely miss. I personally like the way they call playoff games and wish we would see it during the season but at least pick a side and stay consistent.

Would have to shrink the season to like 20 games if you want to see that during the season. Players would be dead at the end of 82 games.

 

[Perfect_Drug]

I hate it.

Bring back the skill and speed please.

 

[JBose7]

It's gone way beyond letting marginal calls go unmade. Even if it hadn't, that argument holds no water.

A penalty is a penalty, and should be regardless of the time of year. Call the rule book, otherwise the NHL essentially condones cheating. These players aren't dumb. They're tackling the opposition because they know it won't be called. If you call the rule book, they'll adapt. It might take a game or two, but they'll learn. Just like they've learned they can get away with just about anything that doesn't draw blood now.

The NFL doesn't stop calling penalties just because it's the Superbowl. MLB doesn't change what constitutes a strike just because it's the World Series. Only the NHL changes the rules for the playoffs and it's becoming more than tiresome.

Has a Pens fan ive wondered this for years. The reason they let it turn into " NHL street" is because the old Canadian geezers who run the league think thats hockey. " Grit" " paying the price". It makes the real players average cause their getting assaulted and it keeps bums in the league. Its a joke

 

[deepelemblues]

because the refs are strongly encouraged to let the players and not the calls determine who wins in the playoffs

which of course leads to the refs being lambasted for swallowing their whistles because the players aren't dumb, they know they're gonna get away with a lot more ****

the refs can't win

 

[Hackett]

That was a symptom of them cracking down on clutch and grab hockey out of the lockout. Once players either adjusted or essentially played themselves out of the league, PPs naturally went down.

Well, I think that whole standard has regressed. Players did not adjust as much as the officials just stopped enforcing it so tightly. It's not back to pre lockout level, but they do let more go now.

I think the league actually wanted to slow the game down a little bit because the dmen were getting clobbered out of the lockout on the forecheck. Forwards were coming in full steam with nobody allowed to touch them.... But that's just one aspect.

The standard in calling infractions has regressed.

 

[golfortennis]

Can someone tell me how it's not "taking away a scoring chance" when the teammate of the player with the puck flying into the zone is held, mugged and otherwise assaulted? Last time I checked, they gave out assists. Why are scoring chances only "taken away" by actions on the guy with the puck?

And refs decide a game by not calling things every bit as much as they do when they make calls. It's frankly delusional to think otherwise.

 

[DG]

This is actually how the Ducks beat the Senators in 2007. I don't blame the Ducks though... As people have said in this thread, the players play to what they can get away with and what will be successful and breaking the rules was allowed and encouraged. Ottawa was not built for that that year and couldn't hang with them. Anaheim was an excellent team top to bottom that year too, so it's not like their victory was unwarranted; however, it made the series more one-sided than it should have been.

 

[authentic]

So you want to see every bump subject to a penalty

I don't want to see constant holding, slashing and interference, no. Any scrub can pull those off pretty good.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

Because they dont want the games to slow down and be pp after pp after pp.

The part of the playoffs that makes it more exciting is the intensity if you call every little ticky tac call the games slow down and the intensity lowers.

They call 'pp after pp after pp' in the regular season?

2016-17 had less than 3 PPO's per game, the lowest number in NHL history.

http://www.hockey-reference.com/leagues/stats.html

 

[Loffer]

It is a gross overstatement to talk about rule changes in the context of PO's. A more accurate wording would be a change in the interpretation and/or application of the given rules. And that is rather an act of "stretching" the rules if need be, not abandoning them altogether in favour of a set of some absurd newborn rules of a newly invented game called, say, cockhey... It is only natural that rules have different application in different circumstances and environments. They are never inexorable. Unless in the realm of abstract thought.