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Sunday, March 9, 2008
A Major Meltdown
The toughest pill to swallow in a game like this,
obviously, stems from the inequality of the penalties dealt to
Washington in the waning minutes of the game.
It's easy to chide the ref, Boston native Chris Rooney,
and say he blew (no pun intended) the game for the Caps. It's just as
elementary to cast blame towards 'Alternate Captain' Donald Brashear,
whose overzealous lift check caught the mug of Boston's David Krejci,
resulting in a double minor. What proved most costly was Brash's jab on
Shane Hnidy, who don't forget decked Alex Ovechkin back in the first
period and never quite received due payback. Suddenly, the
veteran leader was in the box with the extremely uncommon triple-minor.
It's fair to say that Brashear earned his six minutes at
a time when he should be earning the 'A' on his sweater, but Brashear's
penalties alone weren't the back breaker. John Erskine's ensuing
hooking penalty was weak and likely would have been a no call
had the game been played elsewhere, or if Rooney was elsewhere. But
Erskine went to the box and Boston tied the game at one.
So the Caps were whistled for four minors in a span of
1:13 with about five minutes to play. This is when refs are usually
looking for makeup calls, and they could not have asked for a more
perfect opportunity when Zdeno Chara (whose shot seems to get more
terrifying every time I see it) may have tried to play the puck with a
broken stick. A borderline call? Perhaps, but following the cheapie to
Erskine on top of the Brashear mess, it's an infraction most refs would
not ignore. Rooney and partner in blind
crime, Rob Martell, did.
By the three minute mark of the third, the Capitals were
killing the last two of their eight minutes worth of penalties. They
lost their 1-0 lead but were holding on to try for a point and an
overtime win. That's when Tom Poti, yet another vet who lost his cool
down the stretch, blatantly slashed Glen Murray's stick...twice. The
second whack broke it in half.
Without hesitation, I will concede that it was a
penalty. But here's where the officiating screwed the Caps again. On
the same play, Boyd Gordon was hauled down along the boards with a
stick in his gut, but when the whistle blew, it was just for the Poti
penalty. At least call coincidental friggin' minors on that one. A
4-on-3 for 1:55 is enough good fortune for Boston to have a great
chance of scoring the go-ahead goal. Instead, the Bruins were awarded
yet another 5-on-3, and again they took full advantage.
Sure the Caps screwed themselves, but the refs decided
to bury them in it. What is most heartbreaking is this type
of loss on a day that Carolina and Philadelphia (along with Boston) won
to further distance themselves from the Capitals. Heck, even
Buffalo picked up an overtime point. Bad timing for a
meltdown.
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