There was a bit of a dirty play that went down as the second period came to a close in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Montreal Canadiens.
As the horn sounded, Montreal forward Alexandre Texier looked over at Hurricanes defenseman K’Andre Miller and intentionally speared him in the groin.
Normally, per the NHL rulebook, that action should have automatically resulted in a five-minute major and a match penalty to Texier, however the Game 2 officials (Gord Dwyer and Kelly Sutherland) reviewed the play for a major and actually downgraded it to a two-minute minor for slashing instead, something Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour vehemently disagreed with.
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“Clearly that’s a spear,” Brind’Amour said. “There’s not a person that can tell you that it wasn’t. Played the game long enough to know that when you look at a guy and… [gestures a spearing motion]. That’s a spear.”
It doesn’t really get more egregious than what Texier, who you can clearly see on video turns to make sure he’s gets Miller right where he wants to, did, so I have no idea how the officials simply let it go.
I guess they didn’t want to influence a close game, but that’s just a play you cannot let happen.
Hopefully the Department of Player Safety takes a look at it, but knowing them, it’s hard to believe that they’ll actually take a proper stance on anything when it actually comes to player safety and upholding the rulebook.
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