The Rite of Spring

[STL FANATIC]

All this and yet lost was Smith getting free punches in on any King checked into the crease.

Jonathan Quick has done much of the same.

[The_Admiral]

Let's not kid ourselves: there's a baseline level of hacking and shoving with all goalies. I would argue that Smith not only went above and beyond that (Mike Richards slash, for one) but twinned it with a similarly excessive amount of embellishment. The guy showed why he's a career backup/AHLer at age 31 with one good system-aided season to his name. He didn't belong with the pros.

[IceCap]

While I understand the notion that the Coyotes are owned by the league, so they'd be getting favored, we shouldn't pretend that the NHL didn't circle LA vs. NY on it's bracket a long freaking time ago. Nor should we doubt they would act on it.

The NBA's ultimate wet dream is a LA/NY final. I refuse to believe the NHL's leadership is competent enough to pull off something the NBA hasn't been able to rig.

Whatever your thoughts on this Kings team are, you can't deny they've been on fire this post-season. Not "we've been winning because the league likes us" on fire but "we've been winning because we've been clicking on all levels" on fire.

Besides, the "they want a LA/NY final" argument would mean the Rangers would be getting special treatment too. Which they haven't been getting.

[STL FANATIC]

While I understand the notion that the Coyotes are owned by the league, so they'd be getting favored, we shouldn't pretend that the NHL didn't circle LA vs. NY on it's bracket a long freaking time ago. Nor should we doubt they would act on it.

The NBA's ultimate wet dream is a LA/NY final. I refuse to believe the NHL's leadership is competent enough to pull off something the NBA hasn't been able to rig.

Whatever your thoughts on this Kings team are, you can't deny they've been on fire this post-season. Not "we've been winning because the league likes us" on fire but "we've been winning because we've been clicking on all levels" on fire.

Besides, the "they want a LA/NY final" argument would mean the Rangers would be getting special treatment too. Which they haven't been getting.

Hasn't come yet. But now that they need it, keep an eye on it.

LA's been on fire and hasn't required much help. Again, I'm not accusing the NHL of straight fixing anything. Merely having biases to fit their pocketbook.

Took little more than creating a goal out of thin-air for the Blackhawks a year ago, ensuring the Chicago market would see the post-season, for me to buy into that.

[IceCap]

All this and yet lost was Smith getting free punches in on any King checked into the crease.

Jonathan Quick has done much of the same.

Jonathan Quick hasn't slashed at an opposing player after letting in a goal. He hasn't embellished hits. Plus he seems to know the rules of the game as they pertain to his position.

One of the times (that's always a bad sign) Smith went after a ref brandishing his stick like a madman was after a play in which he lost his glove. He was angry that the ref didn't stop the play. Thing is, the rules state that the only time play stops for a goalie losing a piece of equipment is if that piece of equipment is the mask. Smith losing his trapper isn't grounds for a whistle. Now you can debate the merits of that rule (as a goalie myself I'd like to see it changed) but that doesn't change the fact that the rules are the rules and Smith should have known them.

Smith going after a ref like a crazy person for not making a call he's not supposed to make puts Smith on a level above Quick when it comes to d-bag goalies, I think.

[STL FANATIC]

I never defended Smith or said Quick was on his level. I'm just saying Quick's no saint in that crease. He cross-checks, slashes, interferes, punches, and dives.

Here, watch some holding, embellishment, and some combo of punch/slash here.

You'll have to ignore the announcer who can barely get his words out, what, with Quick's nuts in his mouth and all, but the replay shows Quick grabbing Perron's leg, pulling him on top of him, then getting angry with Perron (for letting Quick pull him on top of him, I guess), and then reach up with his hand and stick and punches Perron in the face. (Laughably, the announcer praises Quick for his restraint, I suppose, because he didn't kill Perron or something.)

These reactions aren't uncommon in goalies, although not every goal acts that way. You've got your jerks and your not jerks. Quick is in the jerk category, whether he's the biggest jerk or not. (He's not. I agree that Smith is worse.)

[Kevin W.]

While I understand the notion that the Coyotes are owned by the league, so they'd be getting favored, we shouldn't pretend that the NHL didn't circle LA vs. NY on it's bracket a long freaking time ago. Nor should we doubt they would act on it.

Both ideas are completely ridiculous.

When will people realize that refs/leagues fixing sports events is not only ludicrous, but next to impossible to put in practice (inconspicuously, that is). In a game like hockey, nothing short of a blatantly obvious travesty of officiating would have to happen for a team to be "guaranteed" to win. And I think we can all agree the last thing the NHL needs right now is to risk trying to fix games, even if it does mean putting two mega markets against each other.

It wouldn't be the first time a playoff series involving a team named the Kings has been rigged.

[IceCap]

These reactions aren't uncommon in goalies, although not every goal acts that way. You've got your jerks and your not jerks. Quick is in the jerk category, whether he's the biggest jerk or not. (He's not. I agree that Smith is worse.)

That's fair enough. I just don't like the "well Quick is a jerk too" reaction to pointing out Smith's foibles.

You'll have to ignore the announcer who can barely get his words out, what, with Quick's nuts in his mouth and all, but the replay shows Quick grabbing Perron's leg, pulling him on top of him, then getting angry with Perron (for letting Quick pull him on top of him, I guess), and then reach up with his hand and stick and punches Perron in the face. (Laughably, the announcer praises Quick for his restraint, I suppose, because he didn't kill Perron or something.)

It's an interesting case, to be sure. It does look like he grabs onto Perron. I hate to say it, because I'm not trying to be confrontational, but it does seem a bit inconclusive. As a goalie you sometimes just have to take it when a player comes barrelling into you. You just have to brace yourself and try to lesson the impact. I'm not saying that was what Quick was doing, but it could be. In the heat of the moment, with an opposing player charger you, not much time to think knowing you're going to be run over, Quick's actions don't strike me as completely unreasonable. Maybe I'm wrong and maybe he did intend to grab Perron, but I can't say one way or another.

That being said, yeah that announcer was terrible, with some obvious bias. Who was that?

[STL FANATIC]

I can buy that he was bracing himself on Perron. Perron wasn't barreling, but he was gliding into him, so I could see that. But the stick punch was mostly what upset me. (And I thought it was an all-around weak call.)

Is that Gary Thorne? I think it is. I tend to like him alright, but not so much there.

[The_Admiral]

No, NBC doesn't use Thorne. It's erstwhile Coyotes pbp guy Dave Strader, and if you don't like him there, you really wouldn't have liked him last night.

One of the times (that's always a bad sign) Smith went after a ref brandishing his stick like a madman was after a play in which he lost his glove. He was angry that the ref didn't stop the play. Thing is, the rules state that the only time play stops for a goalie losing a piece of equipment is if that piece of equipment is the mask. Smith losing his trapper isn't grounds for a whistle. Now you can debate the merits of that rule (as a goalie myself I'd like to see it changed) but that doesn't change the fact that the rules are the rules and Smith should have known them.

If you could blow the play dead because the goalie lost his glove, Smith would throw his glove off every time there was pressure.

ohhhhh, there it goes again!

[ninersdd]

Wasn't that Darren Pang saying that being the former goalie?

[Squeaks4]

All this and yet lost was Smith getting free punches in on any King checked into the crease.

Jonathan Quick has done much of the same.

Jonathan Quick hasn't slashed at an opposing player after letting in a goal. He hasn't embellished hits. Plus he seems to know the rules of the game as they pertain to his position.

One of the times (that's always a bad sign) Smith went after a ref brandishing his stick like a madman was after a play in which he lost his glove. He was angry that the ref didn't stop the play. Thing is, the rules state that the only time play stops for a goalie losing a piece of equipment is if that piece of equipment is the mask. Smith losing his trapper isn't grounds for a whistle. Now you can debate the merits of that rule (as a goalie myself I'd like to see it changed) but that doesn't change the fact that the rules are the rules and Smith should have known them.

Smith going after a ref like a crazy person for not making a call he's not supposed to make puts Smith on a level above Quick when it comes to d-bag goalies, I think.

Only problem is that Smith wasn't asking for the whistle to be blown because he lost his glove, he felt he already had the puck under his mitt when it was hit off his hand by a King stick. He didn't have any misconceptions on the rules, he just felt he had control of the puck before his glove was hit off.

[Kramerica Industries]

Jeez, that didn't take long.

1-0 Devils. And, for those who haven't noticed, the team scoring first is 4-0 in this series.

Advantage New Jersey. We'll see if their forecheck remains as strong as its been since the later stages of the Florida series.

UPDATE - And it's 2-0, only 4:13 into the game. What the hell is going on?

UPDATE (2) - Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand...3-0 Devils. It's a bloodbath in the Garden right now.

UPDATE (3) - New York is on the board. Brandon Prust, and now the response on both sides becomes intriguing.

Where the hell is everybody?

[oddball]

All this and yet lost was Smith getting free punches in on any King checked into the crease.

Jonathan Quick has done much of the same.

Jonathan Quick hasn't slashed at an opposing player after letting in a goal. He hasn't embellished hits. Plus he seems to know the rules of the game as they pertain to his position.

One of the times (that's always a bad sign) Smith went after a ref brandishing his stick like a madman was after a play in which he lost his glove. He was angry that the ref didn't stop the play. Thing is, the rules state that the only time play stops for a goalie losing a piece of equipment is if that piece of equipment is the mask. Smith losing his trapper isn't grounds for a whistle. Now you can debate the merits of that rule (as a goalie myself I'd like to see it changed) but that doesn't change the fact that the rules are the rules and Smith should have known them.

Smith going after a ref like a crazy person for not making a call he's not supposed to make puts Smith on a level above Quick when it comes to d-bag goalies, I think.

Only problem is that Smith wasn't asking for the whistle to be blown because he lost his glove, he felt he already had the puck under his mitt when it was hit off his hand by a King stick. He didn't have any misconceptions on the rules, he just felt he had control of the puck before his glove was hit off.

If you go along the lines of that, then the guy who sat on Dustin Brown for 30 seconds after the Smith lost his glove should've been called for holding! Clearly the Coyote player did not let Brown up and kept him down and that is either holding or interference. So all this crying by the Coyotes or their fans is just pathetic. I have never seen a team cry as much as the Coyotes have after this, and again, Lord knows how many cheap shots they've been known to take and how the employ one of the league's worst in Torres. To all Coyotes and their fans, stop whining. You got out-played and you lost.

[LMU]

All this and yet lost was Smith getting free punches in on any King checked into the crease.

Jonathan Quick has done much of the same.

Jonathan Quick hasn't slashed at an opposing player after letting in a goal. He hasn't embellished hits. Plus he seems to know the rules of the game as they pertain to his position.

One of the times (that's always a bad sign) Smith went after a ref brandishing his stick like a madman was after a play in which he lost his glove. He was angry that the ref didn't stop the play. Thing is, the rules state that the only time play stops for a goalie losing a piece of equipment is if that piece of equipment is the mask. Smith losing his trapper isn't grounds for a whistle. Now you can debate the merits of that rule (as a goalie myself I'd like to see it changed) but that doesn't change the fact that the rules are the rules and Smith should have known them.

Smith going after a ref like a crazy person for not making a call he's not supposed to make puts Smith on a level above Quick when it comes to d-bag goalies, I think.

Only problem is that Smith wasn't asking for the whistle to be blown because he lost his glove, he felt he already had the puck under his mitt when it was hit off his hand by a King stick. He didn't have any misconceptions on the rules, he just felt he had control of the puck before his glove was hit off.

If you go along the lines of that, then the guy who sat on Dustin Brown for 30 seconds after the Smith lost his glove should've been called for holding! Clearly the Coyote player did not let Brown up and kept him down and that is either holding or interference. So all this crying by the Coyotes or their fans is just pathetic. I have never seen a team cry as much as the Coyotes have after this, and again, Lord knows how many cheap shots they've been known to take and how the employ one of the league's worst in Torres. To all Coyotes and their fans, stop whining. You got out-played and you lost.

I was wondering why they let that slide.

[The_Admiral]

the guy who sat on Dustin Brown for 30 seconds after the Smith lost his glove

...was, of all people, Michal Rozsival. Between that stunt, the fake whiplash from the imaginary high stick, and that other flop where he comically fell over after a scrum, well, I don't want to say he had it coming to him, but.

Haha. "The Smith." Hand not in glove!

[ninersdd]

Just like that it's 3-2 Devils a minute into the 2nd.

[sportstar1212]

Wow. What a chance by the Rangers.

[STL FANATIC]

No, NBC doesn't use Thorne. It's erstwhile Coyotes pbp guy Dave Strader, and if you don't like him there, you really wouldn't have liked him last night.

It was the color analyst, not the PBP guy who I had an issue with, so I don't think it was Strader.

Wasn't that Darren Pang saying that being the former goalie?

It DEFINITELY wasn't Panger, either.

[Kramerica Industries]

Life isn't fair.

Devils outplayed the Rangers in the first and third games, and came up fruitless.

Tonight, the Rangers are dominating this game, but still trail 3-2. If they lose, they can only blame themselves.