2021 Stanley Cup playoffs skating thread

Wait, what is Ariel Helwani doing here? Then again, I suppose he'd be an expert on flying elbows and such.

 

Honest to God, it was the first video I found. Don’t read anything into it.

 

I don’t know. I certainly don’t think Scheifele led with an elbow.

And I’d put an asterisk after defenseless, because Evans didn’t have to be. He’s in the NHL. If he didn’t know Scheifele was coming I have no idea how he got in the league in the first place. If he does a quick shoulder check when he’s getting close to the boards he’s fine. Even the Minor Peewee team I coach knows this much.

It was a charge, no doubt, and I think five and a game makes sense. But I think there’s some overreacting over this.

 

Thing is, with the benefit of numerous replays, all Scheifele had to do was attempt to play the puck, and he could have done that with the stick in his left hand and trying to play the puck. The stick was in his right hand and he was clearly playing the body (i.e., trying to blow up Evans).

Mark Scheifele is too skilled and too smart not to know this. And if he had the stick in his left hand attempting to play the puck, the Department of Player Safety – namely Colin Campbell and George Parros – would have an out to let Scheifele off the hook.

 

I’m with you. But the game has changed. It was predatory but I can’t believe Evans didn’t see it coming.

 

I’m sorry, we’re blaming the guy who got his head taken off? What is Evans supposed to do not score a goal because a guy is head hunting?

 

No. But in that situation most players from beer league down are aware.

you’re right, he shouldn’t have to worry about it, but most do.

 

I didn’t say I blame Evans. I’m saying he wasn’t truly defenseless as he had to know Scheifele was coming. He had two choices: pull up and pin the puck along the boards, or score. He chose to score, which is obviously good, but let’s not pretend this was Cooke on Savard.

 

Again, blaming the guy for getting his head taken off because he didn’t do enough to stop the guy from a dirty play. You and JC keep beating that drum.

 

The first six words of what I wrote were “I didn’t say I blame Evans.”

And I’m not. Of course he’s going to want the goal there. But goals aren’t free. He made a choice and got what came with it, and 100% he should have known Scheifele was coming. So again, let’s not pretend this was Cooke on Savard.

Will Scheifele get dinged? Probably, because he skated a hell of a long way at full speed. But both guys could have done things differently here.

 

Justify it however you want in your head, you’re blaming the guy who got hurt on a dirty hit. By saying he should have known it was coming means he should have done something different and chose to take an elbow to the head. That’s a great position to take.

And before you say so, it was an elbow to the head on a play where Scheifele had no business other than enacting punishment to hit Evans. He wasn’t stopping that goal unless Evans, who looks up to see if the net is clear but doesn’t look up again, somehow sees Scheifele’s elbow coming.