How the officials screwed the Leafs on Pat Maroon's 2nd period penalty
At the end of the second period, seconds before the buzzer went, Tampa's Pat Maroon hit Leafs defenseman Mark Giordano from behind into the boards. Giordano was very slow to get back to his feet, but thankfully returned to the game a few minutes into the third period. Once again though, officials helped the Lightning out by only assessing Maroon two minutes for roughing instead of boarding or checking from behind.
According to the NHL rulebook's rule 43 - Checking From Behind, there is no minor penalty, only a major is an option. The play would be reviewable, but the officials would not have the option to reduce it to a minor. It would either be a 5-minute major or nothing at all.
Calling Maroon for roughing was a safety net for the officials, because there is no provision in the rulebook to give them the ability to assess a major penalty for a roughing call. The officials could have also called Maroon for boarding which would have given them the option to award Maroon a match penalty or major and review it. By definition, Rule 41- Boarding states, "A boarding penalty shall be imposed on any player who checks or pushes a defenseless opponent in such a manner causes the opponent to hit or impact the boards violently or dangerously. The severity of the penalty, based upon the impact of the boards, shall be at the discretion of the referee." Based on that definition, Maroon should have been penalized for boarding and given the length of time it took Giordano to get up and return to the game, a major could have been assessed.
Had the refs at least assessed a major penalty to Maroon, they would have been able to review it to determine the appropriate call. By assessing just a minor for roughing, they completely waived their opportunity to review and determine if the right call was made.
A 5-minute major and a game misconduct at that stage in a very close game would have given the Leafs a distinct edge in the contest. At that point, the two teams were separated by only 1 goal and, as you may or may not be aware of, a major penalty does not end in the event that the Leafs would have scored - meaning that they'd have the ability to score multiple goals on that 5-minute power play. It's not really a valid reason to not issue a penalty as outlined in the rulebook, but there's nothing that can be done now. It's just another in a long line of questionable calls throughout the series.
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 28 | 417 ANSWERS How the officials screwed the Leafs on Pat Maroon's 2nd period penalty Should Maroon have been assessed a major penalty and a game misconduct for his hit from behind on Giordano? | ||
| Yes | 381 | 91.4 % |
| No | 36 | 8.6 % |
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