Department of Player Safety comes down on John Tavares for slash on Desharnais
Last night's game was a lot of fun wasn't it? The Oilers 3-2 lead vanished before their eyes as the Leafs stormed back to take a 7-4 victory. The officials were not at their best, allowing the game to get a little out of hand with rough stuff going both ways. It seems one of those altercations drew the attention of the second most hated man in the NHL's head office, Department of Player Safety head George Parros.
Early in the third period, John Tavares attempted to make his way to his office in front of the Oilers' net. Oilers defenceman Vincent Desharnais laid into Tavares immediately. Throwing a slew of crosschecks into Tavares' back before attempting to shove the Leafs Captain's feet out from under him. When that failed to knock Tavares down, Desharnais wrapped Tavares up with his stick across JT's chest. This was the last straw for Tavares. He retaliated with a pretty brutal two hand chop to Desharnais' wrist. Both players were assessed minor penalties on the play. Tavares for slashing, Desharnais for cross-checking.
Today, the Department of Player safety announced that Tavares has been fined $5,000 for the slash. Honestly, I'm not upset by this one. If the same slash had happened to a Leafs defenceman, I would have been calling for the same. Tavares earned it, and in doing so sent a message that he will defend himself if pushed. Not a bad thing to put in your opponents' heads with the playoffs looming!
| POLL | ||
MARS 12 | 275 ANSWERS Department of Player Safety comes down on John Tavares for slash on Desharnais Did the DoPS get this call right? | ||
| No, shouldn't have been a fine | 79 | 28.7 % |
| Yeah, that was a nasty chop | 106 | 38.5 % |
| No, he should sit a game | 15 | 5.5 % |
| That's just good old fashioned hockey! | 75 | 27.3 % |
| List of polls | ||
