Tim Stutzle gets away with his second dive of the week; this one is worse than the first
The Ottawa Senators continue to languish in the bottom of the NHL's standings, but at the very least, they have a few standout players to build around. One of them is German-phenom Tim Stutzle. However, as talented as he may be, he has picked up a irritating habit of seemingly diving and flopping.
With most of the NHL on a bye week heading into the All-Star break, the Senators played the Nashville Predators on the 29th and the Detroit Red Wings just last night. They won both games in overtime with Stutzle picking up a goal and an assist - as well as two very obvious dives.
Trying to exit his own zone and jumpstart an offensive rush for his team, Stutzle had Red Wings forward Christian Fischer closely marking him. Stutzle attempted a nifty move but as Fischer tried to disrupt his deke, Stutzle flopped onto the ice and Fischer was assessed a tripping minor.
When you give it another look, Fischer never made contact with Stutzle - not even having their skates clip one another. The 22-year-old dropped to the ice much to the chagrin of Detroit's head coach Derek Lalonde who urged the referees to recognize the play as an obvious dive.
This comes off the heels of a similar play that took place on Monday against Nashville. Stutzle was all alone in front of the net but Juuse Saros made an incredible save in tight. As Saros stretched out his pad to make the save, Stutzle conveniently fell over and the referees nailed the goaltender for a tripping minor as Stutzle wore a grin directed towards the official before he even hit the ice.
The diving incidents haven't gone unnoticed with Twitter blowing up after every incident. Former NHL referee Tim Peel took to Twitter last night quote tweeted the incident:
If these two plays were the only ones that have taken place, you could maybe let it go. Unfortunately he has made a habit out of it throughout his young career.
| POLL | ||
FEVRIER 1 | 647 ANSWERS Tim Stutzle gets away with his second dive of the week; this one is worse than the first Does Tim Stutzle still deserve the benefit of the doubt? | ||
| Not even close | 294 | 45.4 % |
| Yes, he's still young and learning | 154 | 23.8 % |
| He could be on the German Olympic diving team | 199 | 30.8 % |
| List of polls | ||
