They do, with the puck sliding through a sea of bodies ... but not before a forward made contact with the goalie.Then would e the situation that literally nobody in hockey, from the players to the Madden 19 Coins owners to the fans, wants to see e to fruition: Referees would have to huddle around an iPad to make a judgment call over whether a team just won the Stanley Cup. Based on the precedent set over the past couple months, it would be almost impossible to guess which way they’d decide.
“Playoff hockey,” as those around the sport call it because the rules literally change based on the stakes, is different in several ways. The intensity gets ratcheted up, and big names are often nursing injuries. More than any other kind of hockey, it’s a war of attrition fostered by the league’s willingness to bend the rulebook in favor of
MUT 19 Coins physicality that goes beyond pushing the envelope.The postseason also means putting the game’s referees under the limelight constantly, and entering Game 1 between the Penguins and Predators on Monday (8 p.m. ET, NBC), there’s reason to wonder about what kind of impact they’ll have on who wins.
That’s because, over and over these playoffs, referees have shown that they either don’t know the NHL rulebook, or prefer not to enforce it. Other times, the rules seem like judgment calls with a degree of subjectivity that undermines why they exist in the first place.
And when the referees don’t do their jobs, and it’s up to NHL Player Safety to send a message, they’ve too often responded with a shrug.Calvert suspension sets a bad precedentThe NHL had opportunities early in the playoffs to show its players that certain rule-breaking would not be tolerated.
The biggest example came in the first-round series between the Penguins and Blue Jackets, when Columbus forward Matt Calvert attacked an opposing player standing at center ice for no apparent reason.
The Wall