2019 Stanley Cup Final - No Singing the Blues - Boston is Going Back to Backes

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To my eye, — and I wasn’t following the game thread so I’m sure they all were discussed, — there were five notable calls or non-calls:
1. The check on Johansson that was a shoulder to the head. Very similar to calls that were made against the Bruins in Games 3 & 4. NON-CALL
2. The check on Krug that was a shoulder to the head. Very similar to calls that were made against the Bruins in Games 3 & 4. NON-CALL
3. The trip of Acciari. NON-CALL
4. The holding of Krug. NON-CALL
5. The slashing call made against Marchand that seemed to me a worthy call, EXCEPT that it seemed pretty similar to the slash made against Rask’s chest in G4 (by Steen?) which was a non-call.
Those were the 5 that I found egregious. And all went the Blues way.
Too many men in the ice.... Like 5 times
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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The Marchand slash on Binnington....the puck was still loose, bouncing around on the goalie's chest. I can see why they called it given Marchand's reputation but that was a bad call.

Also puck was in the net on Binnington in the second, that was ruled no-goal, I think because a whistle blew. But the puck was in the net.
 

PedroSpecialK

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It wasn't even a slash is the worst part - Marchand pokes at the puck, which happens a half dozen times a game in the regular season without being called.

This series is no longer about the two teams on the ice - it’s about Kelly Sutherland and Steve Kozari. I don’t think that’s what they wanted, but it sucks and moreover they suck.
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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It's about Sutherland and Kozari reacting to Berube's comments after Game 3.

That's what it boils down to. The league has decided, in the Final, to make Berube the director of competition.

Professional leagues don't do that.
 

allstonite

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Fuck this guy. I never thought it possible but this team has reached 2011 Canucks level hate from me
 

BaseballJones

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It's, what, 11 hours later and I still cannot believe that the Blues' guy skated up behind Acciari, completely wiped him out by tripping him up from behind, such that he fell so hard on his head that he was out of the play and ended up in concussion protocol, giving the Blues a 5-on-4, which led directly to a twice-lucky-bounce goal that ended up being the difference in the game.

And....

No call.

Right in front of the ref. Right. In. Front. Of. Him.

I get that there are really borderline calls in all sports, and in a game as fast as NHL hockey, yeah, some calls are going to be tough. But that was right out in the open, right in front of the ref, as blatant as it gets, and it directly - immediately - led to the game-winning goal. Oh, and for good measure, sent a player off the ice for the rest of the game in concussion protocol. I mean....come on.
 

Auger34

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Fuck this guy. I never thought it possible but this team has reached 2011 Canucks level hate from me
I’m not a huge hockey fan (i watch the playoffs every year) and I Knew next to nothing about the Blues before the Cup...but after watching this series I wanted to add something in here.

1. St. Louis is One of the worst mixtures a sports team can have. They are dirty and they flop. I am amazed that this isn’t getting more play in the national media. They go high on almost every check (Perron when Sundqvist especially, Sundqvists exploits have already cost us a key contributor) and always add a little something after the play. It’s pretty infuriating to watch not get called. Also Binnington is a fucking clown who deserves a day time Emmy for his flopping around and overacting.

2. I can’t believe how much I hate Craig Berube and how little respect I have for him.
His post game conferences are an absolute joke and I don’t know how anyone could say the shit he’s saying with a straight face.

3. While I appreciated what Cassidy said, and it was much needed, I wish he would have taken more swipes at the Blues style of play and Berube. It’s well past time for them to get called out
 

JCizzle

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The NHL has zero consistency with any of that stuff. Do they need 100% conclusive evidence the puck is in the net? If so, there was no 100% conclusive angle in the last series when it snuck in against Rask's skate. I personally think it was in and you could infer it was in, but there was nothing over the top that showed it definitively in the net. Then you have the goalie interference calls that I have no fucking idea about. How they call it one way in the Toronto series and another way next week makes no sense to me. Overall I just have no idea what the threshold is for anything from game to game. It's like throwing darts blindfolded and it makes it really frustrating to watch.
 

JokersWildJIMED

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What is unfolding in this series is the worst possible scenario for the NHL. They have the Bruins and the Blues in the Finals, a relatively marquee match-up, and the Bruins are clearly the more skilled team...yet, through dirty play and horrific officiating, the Blues have taken control of the series. It is everything that is wrong with hockey and why the NHL has tanked over the last 30 years.
 

Boston Brawler

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I could barely sleep last night and I am full of rage this morning. I don’t even know what else to say.
 

PedroSpecialK

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+1. It may say more about me that I let it affect my mood so much but I can usually move past a playoff loss. This has grown overnight in light of Berube’s trolling and other deliberately obtuse takes.

I’m more worked up over this than getting knocked out of the playoffs last year, or g6 Chicago.
 

Mystic Merlin

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+1. It may say more about me that I let it affect my mood so much but I can usually move past a playoff loss. This has grown overnight in light of Berube’s trolling and other deliberately obtuse takes.

I’m more worked up over this than getting knocked out of the playoffs last year, or g6 Chicago.
Totally agreed.

The Chicago loss was sudden and deflating, but shit happens when you play a team of that caliber. The game last night feels like a sports injustice and the tepid reaction in the press, as well as their shithead coach’s statement that would insult anyone with a memory longer than a goldfish’s, is stoking the flames of rage.
 

DJnVa

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It's, what, 11 hours later and I still cannot believe that the Blues' guy skated up behind Acciari, completely wiped him out by tripping him up from behind, such that he fell so hard on his head that he was out of the play and ended up in concussion protocol, giving the Blues a 5-on-4, which led directly to a twice-lucky-bounce goal that ended up being the difference in the game.

And....

No call.

Right in front of the ref. Right. In. Front. Of. Him.

I get that there are really borderline calls in all sports, and in a game as fast as NHL hockey, yeah, some calls are going to be tough. But that was right out in the open, right in front of the ref, as blatant as it gets, and it directly - immediately - led to the game-winning goal. Oh, and for good measure, sent a player off the ice for the rest of the game in concussion protocol. I mean....come on.

AND THE FUCKING PLAYER KNEW HE DID IT! HE IMMEDIATELY TURNED TO REF AND RAISED HIS HANDS!
 

j44thor

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“While there was no penalty called on the ice, this is an illegal check to the head...”
Another play that had an official staring at the play. This isn't the CBJ puck out of play or even SJS hand pass where refs vision was obscured. This is the refs simply choosing not to call a penalty that is called 95% of the time on 2 different plays. Not to mention Clifton was called on a similar play where he didn't have a hearing because he didn't actually make any fucking contact.
 

Jack Sox

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Not that the power play was exactly clicking last night (I do think the ice condition plays a big factor here), but the swing from being down 1-0 with a 2:00 minute man advantage to going down 2-0 lead due to a turnover caused by an egregious trip is a swift kick in the junk. I think likelihood that the Bruins execute on that should've-been power play is well above 50% .

We've seen it happen before where an offensive player commits a penalty in the offensive zone that goes uncalled and leads to a prolonged possession and a goal, but I can't think of one at a bigger moment where it's bit the refs in the ass to not blow the whistle.
 

DJnVa

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Totally agreed.

The Chicago loss was sudden and deflating, but shit happens when you play a team of that caliber. The game last night feels like a sports injustice and the tepid reaction in the press, as well as their shithead coach’s statement that would insult anyone with a memory longer than a goldfish’s, is stoking the flames of rage.
There's gonna be little to no sympathy too--cuz, you know, it's Boston.
 

pappymojo

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When the Bruins win this fucking series at home and break a million hearts in the process I will be a lot more accepting of this bull shit.
 

The Napkin

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right here
In case you haven't seen it there's a decent article over at Deadspin by Barry Petchesky. Should probably skip the comments though.
 

j44thor

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The real apology would be suspending or firing Sutherland. And calling Games 6 and 7 fairly by not letting Berube's goons run amok.
Don't worry though, after game 7 there will be plenty of hearings for the multiple hits to the head that don't get called during the game. I bet there will be some stiff fines handed out as a result.
 

Comfortably Lomb

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I'm so tired of complaining about the refs (me personally, everyone else is welcome). The Bruins need to find a way to win in spite if the officiating. They've done it all playoffs, need to buckle down and do it again.

No excuses.
This is the perspective competitors need to take. Once they start blaming the officials it’s basically over mentally. It’s great and all but presumably no one here is on the ice.

I think all of the major sports are in the midst of an officiating crisis though. Replay, high definition, numerous camera angles, and the ability to easily disseminate video showing how poorly humans officiate is killing the major sports. It’s hard to root for a team when you can see exactly when they’re getting screwed and know unequivocally that results are tainted by blown calls.

I totally agree it’s likely always been this bad but the ability to see it almost immediately and confirm how poorly officiating is being conducted requires new solutions. None of the leagues appear up to the task right now. MLB can’t even throw Angel Hernandez to the curb and his ineptitude a national joke at this point.
 

j44thor

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This is the perspective competitors need to take. Once they start blaming the officials it’s basically over mentally. It’s great and all but presumably no one here is on the ice.

I think all of the major sports are in the midst of an officiating crisis though. Replay, high definition, numerous camera angles, and the ability to easily disseminate video showing how poorly humans officiate is killing the major sports. It’s hard to root for a team when you can see exactly when they’re getting screwed and know unequivocally that results are tainted by blown calls.

I totally agree it’s likely always been this bad but the ability to see it almost immediately and confirm how poorly officiating is being conducted requires new solutions. None of the leagues appear up to the task right now. MLB can’t even throw Angel Hernandez to the curb and his ineptitude a national joke at this point.
I think the answer is to eliminate slow motion replay but make any plays review-able and or challenge-able. Challenges/reviews should be to correct what 20K people in the arena see and millions see on TV in real time. It shouldn't lead to a CSI like episode of did his skate have a 1/4" touching the white line or not.

Get rid of all the minutia BS and make sure you get the obvious plays correct. The game isn't officiated in frame by frame so why review it that way. Krug was clearly held, easy call, Barbashev clearly made head contact, easy call. Going back to game one Chara certainly should have been called for the slash that broke Bozak's stick while shorthanded. These are calls that simply can't be missed in the NHL SCF.

There should be one official watching the TV broadcast who calls down when something blatantly obvious is missed. The play can only be reviewed in real speed and the review has to be under 45 seconds.

There was no need for either goal review last night as you never saw any part of the puck cross the line in real time. Trying to determine if the puck is half-way over the line while in the air and the ref is just about to or has blown his whistle is ridiculous.
 

CantKeepmedown

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Steve Levy was on the Dan Patrick shows earlier. Said it was an egregious non call. The player knew he did it, the Boston players kind of stopped playing, seemingly confused about their being no call, and the one Blues player takes advantage.

He said that the NHL has put themselves in a corner as they have basically benched their better/best referees for bad calls earlier in the playoffs, which seems outrageous to me. So now they are stuck with refs that would not normally be working at Stanley Cup final Talked about a huge depth problem with NHL refs. Said it's been a great final, marquee match-up and all people will talk about is this non call.
 

Zososoxfan

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Still infuriated by the reffing last night, but I'm choosing not to dwell on it, at least not to the point about writing about it anymore.

The Bruins were not good last night. Krug had a good game...and, Coyle? Rask was pretty good and got hit with some bad luck. Debrusk gets a partial pass for finally potting one. Everyone else was varying levels of bad.

Guys with the highest expectations have to be mentioned first - Marshy is probably hurt, but he was terrible last night. Krejci's been pretty good to my eye these playoffs, but he was holding onto the puck a beat too long all night (some of which gets mitigated by his awesome play to save a goal at the end of the 2nd). Bergy didn't stand out as bad, but he didn't make game altering plays either. Pasta looked better but still not good enough. MoJo, Heinen, and Nordstrom were ineffective, although MoJo was probably a little better. Kuraly seemed OK, and Acciari was bringing some badly needed physicality (Coyle deserved praise here too).

On D, Chucky missed the net on a great opportunity, but gets credit for logging 24 minutes. Kampfer stood out as overwhelmed by the moment and not good, although his shot is clearly a weapon. Carlo seemed pretty good to me. Clifton and Moore were OK compared to their standards they should be held to. Chara was brave as a MOFO last night, but played tentatively and slow. As an aside, I wonder if he had an inability to communicate and that led to him and Chuckie both chasing Sanford behind the net on the first goal.

Cassidy needs to take some responsibility for the PP struggling to gain the zone and for the Bruins not being able to keep the O zone after the first period. I don't think this is a matter of line combos either. The players need to execute better and the gameplan needs some tweaks. I don't have the Xs and Os knowledge to explain it better than that, but it's the SCF - no excuses, play like champions.
 

Saints Rest

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I think the answer is to eliminate slow motion replay but make any plays review-able and or challenge-able. Challenges/reviews should be to correct what 20K people in the arena see and millions see on TV in real time. It shouldn't lead to a CSI like episode of did his skate have a 1/4" touching the white line or not.

Get rid of all the minutia BS and make sure you get the obvious plays correct. The game isn't officiated in frame by frame so why review it that way. Krug was clearly held, easy call, Barbashev clearly made head contact, easy call. Going back to game one Chara certainly should have been called for the slash that broke Bozak's stick while shorthanded. These are calls that simply can't be missed in the NHL SCF.

There should be one official watching the TV broadcast who calls down when something blatantly obvious is missed. The play can only be reviewed in real speed and the review has to be under 45 seconds.

There was no need for either goal review last night as you never saw any part of the puck cross the line in real time. Trying to determine if the puck is half-way over the line while in the air and the ref is just about to or has blown his whistle is ridiculous.
This. Exactly this. For all sports.
It’s so simple.
And it would be nice if replay was the same method in all the sports.
 

j44thor

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Still infuriated by the reffing last night, but I'm choosing not to dwell on it, at least not to the point about writing about it anymore.

The Bruins were not good last night. Krug had a good game...and, Coyle? Rask was pretty good and got hit with some bad luck. Debrusk gets a partial pass for finally potting one. Everyone else was varying levels of bad.
B's badly outshot and outchanced STL last night. They dominated the 1st period, played a poor 2nd and outplayed STL in the 3rd. It is the SCF, the other team is there for a reason but to say BOS played poor last night is not accurate. This to me ,was the first game all series the worse team won. Partly due to Binnington and some post luck and partly due to horrendous officiating.
 

Zososoxfan

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B's badly outshot and outchanced STL last night. They dominated the 1st period, played a poor 2nd and outplayed STL in the 3rd. It is the SCF, the other team is there for a reason but to say BOS played poor last night is not accurate. This to me ,was the first game all series the worse team won. Partly due to Binnington and some post luck and partly due to horrendous officiating.
The B's came out flying in the first. In the second, they were terrible. They were pretty even in the third. I tried to find Shots and SOG by period for last night, but couldn't. For a home game in the SCF, that's not ideal.
 

BaseballJones

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B's badly outshot and outchanced STL last night. They dominated the 1st period, played a poor 2nd and outplayed STL in the 3rd. It is the SCF, the other team is there for a reason but to say BOS played poor last night is not accurate. This to me ,was the first game all series the worse team won. Partly due to Binnington and some post luck and partly due to horrendous officiating.
The Bruins allowed 2 goals last night. I wasn't back from my event last night in time to see the first one so I can't comment, but the second Blues goal was obvious and total BS, not only because of the horrible no-call, which resulted in a 5-on-4, but also because the play featured two completely lucky bounces for St. Louis.

So otherwise, Boston allowed one legit goal last night. I'd say the defense did fine. The offense, however...ugh. SO MANY scoring chances. Too many over passes or bad decisions on whether to pass or shoot. I think they hit the pipe 2 or 3 times as well. Rask and the D played well but the offense couldn't score, despite playing very hard and mustering tons of scoring chances. If they play like that in game 6 they SHOULD win, though this is hockey and weird puck bounces often rule the day.
 

JCizzle

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I'm glad someone took the time to splice these together. Pure insanity.