Pat Maroon's comments about his dirty hit on Mark Giordano are infuriating
In the dying seconds of the 2nd period in Game 5, Tampa's Pat Maroon spotted Mark Giordano turning to make a play on the puck as time was set to expire. What happened next brought Leafs Nation's blood to a boil. Maroon absolutely pasted Giordano into the boards and glass from behind just as the horn was about to sound.
Maroon was issued a 2-minute minor for roughing, even though it was textbook checking from behind and deserved a 5-minute major and a game misconduct. Had the officials chosen to call him for checking from behind, issuing a 5-minute major, it would have opened the door for a review of the play. However, since they called him for roughing and assessed Maroon a 2-minute minor penalty, the play was ineligible for review.
Maroon was finally asked about the hit today, following the Lightning's morning skate, and his response to the hit was utterly laughable.
I'm not surprised to see Maroon refusing to hold himself accountable for his actions. He's had a number of borderline hits in this series, including a very similar hit from behind on Jake McCabe in overtime of Game 3.
The one thing that made his hit on Giordano worse was the timing of it. It occurred on a nothing play at the end of a period. Maroon knew exactly what he was doing. There's no way Gio was expecting to take such a hit during a play like that in his own zone with time expiring. It's actually pretty embarrassing behaviour from the Department of Player Safety that Maroon was not suspended for the hit, just as Kyle Clifford was suspended in Game 1 last year for a similar hit.
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 29 | 833 ANSWERS Pat Maroon's comments about his dirty hit on Mark Giordano are infuriating Did Maroon deserve a suspension for his hit from behind on Giordano? | ||
| Yes | 633 | 76 % |
| No | 98 | 11.8 % |
| Player Safety is a joke | 102 | 12.2 % |
| List of polls | ||
