Senators star's latest dive leads to a rare penalty against one of the league's top goaltenders
Ottawa Senators forward Tim Stutzle is one of the premier young stars in the National Hockey League, which is why it's such a shame that he resorts to diving and embellishment so frequently. Stutzle's reputation as a diver has been well-established over the years and, given what we saw from NHL officials' treatment of Michael Bunting last season, it's astonishing that Stutzle is still being given the benefit of the doubt.
Last night, Stutzle and the Sens played host to the Nashville Predators in the only game on the NHL's Monday docket. They skated away with a 4-3 OT win over the Preds, but were not overly thrilled with a 3rd period penalty with the game tied 3-3. Who drew the penalty? None other than Tim Stutzle. How did he draw it? Well, I think you can probably guess.
At the midway point of the 3rd period, Stutzle made his way into the slot, getting in behind the Preds defenders. A heads-up play by Drake Batherson put the puck directly onto the stick of Stutzle all alone in front of the net. Rather than shooting, Stutzle chose to wait and tried to juke out Preds netminder Juuse Saros at the top of his crease. A sprawling Saros was able to kick out his pad and make the save, but after making contact with the skate of Stutzle, the 22-year old fell forward over the top of Saros' pad and the arm went up.
Granted, Saros' pad does come out of his crease, but Stutzle knows exactly what he's doing. You can see it all over his face when he looks up at the official, smirking. He doesn't even react as if to attempt to draw a call. He simply hits the ice and looks up, smirking.
Saros was absolutely livid with the call after making a sensational save on the play. Thankfully, the Preds were able to kill off the penalty and keep the Sens at bay to force overtime.
Something needs to happen with Stutzle, in my opinion. How many more times is this kid going to get away with this before the referees get together and say enough is enough? This is an embarrassing look for the Senators, an embarrassing look for the officials and an embarrassing look for the National Hockey League. Sooner or later, the league will have to fine Stutzle for his repeated embellishment, and if he doesn't get the message, fine the Sens' head coach as well.
| POLL | ||
JANVIER 30 | 462 ANSWERS Senators star's latest dive leads to a rare penalty against one of the league's top goaltenders Do you think this was a dive by Tim Stutzle? | ||
| Does a bear sh*t in the woods? | 262 | 56.7 % |
| No, I think it was the right call | 59 | 12.8 % |
| The refs need to wise up. This was a bad call | 141 | 30.5 % |
| Should have called them both | 0 | 0 % |
| List of polls | ||
