William Nylander draws one of the absolute wildest penalties of the season; chalk this one up as the worst call of the year
During last night's loss to the Florida Panthers, Leafs winger William Nylander drew one of the wildest penalties of the year when he stepped on Panthers winger Carter Verhaeghe's stick, causing him to fall while in possession of the puck.
Verhaeghe had been in pursuit of Nylander prior to his stick being knocked out of his hand, and there were no arms up from any of the officials at the time - that is, until Nylander stepped on the stick and fell to the ice. Now, obviously, a player stepping on a stick never results in a penalty, because, well, it's not against any rule in the rule book. However, once Nylander fell, the arm went up and Panthers head coach Paul Maurice nearly lost his mind. Maurice, however, paused briefly as the call came down on a hold rather than a trip. The look of confusion on his face was priceless. Unfortunately for the Leafs, and fortunately for Maurice's Panthers, that 2-minute power play resulted in nothing to speak of on the scoreboard.
This was one of the strangest calls of all-time. I know there have been some bad ones this season, but this one takes the cake. It could be that the officials were looking to call something against the Panthers to help keep the penalty scaling as balanced as possible. The call they made though - it was almost as if the official had realized that he had made a mistake long after the arm went up and the whistle went. Needing to call something, he settled on a hold instead of a trip. Very peculiar indeed.
| POLL | ||
MARS 30 | 64 ANSWERS William Nylander draws one of the absolute wildest penalties of the season; chalk this one up as the worst call of the year Was this the worst penalty call of the season? | ||
| Yes | 36 | 56.3 % |
| No | 28 | 43.8 % |
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