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Connor McDavid versus Alex Ovechkin went ahead Tuesday without Connor McDavid — robbing fans at Rogers Place and around the NHL of what was supposed to be a showcase evening and wrapping up a truly embarrassing few days for the NHL.
In the aftermath of referees Wes McCauley and Chris Lee going full Bill Buckner, letting the last 20 seconds of Saturday’s game in Vancouver dribble through their legs like a slow roller, the league comes out of this looking like a joke.
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This was some bush league stuff.
When two of your referees botch a situation that badly, potentially altering the outcome of a game and triggering a chain of events that led to the best player in the world being suspended, it’s not the time to double down on that suspension.
Three games? You’ve got to be kidding.
McDavid deserves to serve time, no question. Conor Garland needed a smack in the mouth, not a crosscheck on the side of the head. But in a situation where the league needs to accept some of the blame (none of this happens if the officials had done their job), tacking on a third game almost seems vindictive.
A glancing blow off the side of the helmet that didn’t even knock Garland off his feet doesn’t warrant the same suspension they gave Tyler Myers for a premeditated, unprovoked crosscheck directly into the face of Evan Bouchard, who was skating toward the Canucks defenceman with his arms down.
This was a pretty easy call: two games for McDavid and three for Myers.
In trying to show that the NHL doesn’t give preferential treatment to star players, the league overcompensated the other way, making a bad situation even worse.
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The disturbing part is that a lot of people are accepting this as normal.
“Yeah, probably should have been a penalty, but it happens. That’s hockey. No big deal. Quit whining.”
Sorry. When two referees watch a player get held down on the ice for 15 seconds in the deciding moments of a game and both of them choose, for whatever reason, not to enforce the rules, you’ve got a very serious problem.
This isn’t a missed call on a split-second infraction. Those are understandable in a fast, violent sport. This was a prolonged incident with a game on the line. This was a player being allowed to cheat.
If you have a culture that allows officials to decide which rules they are going to enforce and when they are going to enforce them, it threatens the integrity of the league.
Why no explanation or admission from the NHL that the two referees should have handled the situation differently?
Did they have a hearing? Were there any sanctions or penalties?
Or is the league OK with how those 15 seconds played out Saturday night? And does it absolve McCauley and Lee of any responsibility for the incident and subsequent chaos?
If they know it was wrong but feel this was an isolated lack of judgement, just say so.
A little transparency would go a long way here.
Sports gambling is huge these days and the trickle down financial impact is huge. Try watching a game or a sports highlight show without seeing betting ads on every commercial break and woven into the actual broadcast.
So how about the gamblers who put big money on the Oilers to win that game, only to watch Edmonton’s best player pinned to the ice for the deciding moments with neither official seeming to have a problem with it?
It was a 3-2 game, and the over/under that night was 5.5. How many FanDuel or Bet365 customers who bet the over and lost big feel cheated by that debacle?
How eager will they be to bet NHL games in the future?
And guess who’s in town on Thursday?
Conor Garland and the Vancouver Canucks.
The question is, what are the Oilers going to do about it?
In the old days this was easy. Somebody would fight Garland, there would be a few other bouts, the building would go crazy, the ratings would be through the roof and everyone would be talking about a great night at the arena.
The Canucks would be galvanized. The Oilers would be galvanized. And the matter would be settled.
Those were the good old days. Now, with Curious George Parros and the Department of Player Safety doing everything they can to strip honour from the league, who knows what to expect.
Garland doesn’t have to fight if he doesn’t want to and the Oilers aren’t really equipped to drag a game into the alley anyway.
Welcome to the new NHL. Maybe, if Parros is lucky, somebody will get crosschecked in the head.
E-mail: rtychkowski@postmedia.com
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