Lightning depth forward gets away with a brutal board/charge on Leafs superstar Mitch Marner
The Leafs seem to be one of those teams who, most often, cannot get a call to go in their favour. There are some examples of things being called in the Leafs' favour, yes - mostly coaches challenges or goal play reviews for goalie interference or kicks - but seldom do the Leafs ever come out on the right side of the penalty scaling on any given night.
Last night, during the Leafs/Lightning game in Toronto, there were several plays that warranted penalties that never came, including a Mikhael Sergachev slash on Michael Bunting, but this one from Marc-Edouard Bellemare was perhaps the most egregious boarding/charging play we've seen this year that didn't result in a call.
This was the play that resulted in Bunting going after Bellemare and eventually being shoved multiple times by NHL linesman Dan Kelly. You can very clearly see that Bellemare had lost the race to the puck after Marner had played it back behind the Leafs' net. Still, Bellemare did not let up and made sure to absolutely follow through and paste Marner to the boards from behind. Thankfully, Marner would be okay and remain in the game.
The hit was gutless, cowardly and predatory and there's absolutely no good reason why that shouldn't have been called a penalty. It was probably worse than the Kyle Clifford boarding penalty on Ross Colton in the playoffs that earned him 5, a game misconduct and a 1-game suspension. The only difference between Bellemare's hit on Marner and Clifford's hit on Colton is that Clifford was a second or two late when he delivered the hit. I don't think there's any question that Bellemare took a better run at Marner and finished harder.
| POLL | ||
DECEMBRE 21 | 280 ANSWERS Lightning depth forward gets away with a brutal board/charge on Leafs superstar Mitch Marner Should Bellemare have been given the same punishment for his hit on Marner as Clifford got for his hit on Ross Colton in the playoffs? (5, a game and a 1-game suspension) | ||
| Definitely | 218 | 77.9 % |
| Probably not | 28 | 10 % |
| He should have gotten an even stiffer punishment | 34 | 12.1 % |
| List of polls | ||
