Brandon Hagel gets away with extremely dangerous cross check; will Player Safety step in?
Now that the Leafs are out, it appears "playoff officiating" has returned. Game 3 of Tampa and Florida's second round matchup took a nasty turn when Brandon Hagel crosschecked Eetu Luostarinen from behind, sending the Panthers centreman careening out of control into the boards head first. Hagel was assessed a 5 minute major on the play, but, unbelievably, the referees reviewed it and reduced the penalty to a 2 minute minor.
How on earth the NHL can defend this call is beyond me. This is a bad, bad hit on a vulnerable player. Luostarinen is extremely lucky to have escaped without a major neck injury. He did return to play at the start of the second period, so whatever injury he may have sustained on the play wasn't bad enough to knock him out of the game, thankfully.
This is yet another in a long list of examples of the NHL's inconsistent officiating. How that hit was only worth 2 minutes is beyond me. In comparison, this hit, delivered by Kyle Clifford in Game 1 of the Leafs-Lightning series, earned the Leafs winger a 5 minute major, a match penalty, and a 1 game suspension. The NHL desperately needs to figure out what its officiating standard is and for goodness sake, stick to it.
| POLL | ||
MAI 22 | 201 ANSWERS Brandon Hagel gets away with extremely dangerous cross check; will Player Safety step in? Should Hagel be suspended for his hit on Luostarinen? | ||
| No, it was accidental | 50 | 24.9 % |
| 1 game | 66 | 32.8 % |
| 2 games | 52 | 25.9 % |
| 3+ games | 33 | 16.4 % |
| List of polls | ||
