The NHL got the Crosby-Niskanen incident right, and that should be the end of it
Game 3 of the Capitals and Penguins series brought some controversy on Monday night. During the first period in Pittsburgh, Caps defenseman Matt Niskanen knocked Sidney Crosby out of the game after delivering a check to the Pens captain’s head.
Crosby, who has a significant concussion history, was clearly dazed. He laid face down on the ice for a few moments before being helped to the locker room by a trainer. He didn’t return.
No update was given on Crosby’s status after the game but it didn’t look great. There’s reason to be concerned in Pittsburgh.
Niskanen was given a five-minute major for cross checking and a game misconduct for the play. He also may get a hearing from the league’s Department of Player Safety with the possibility of supplemental discipline, though the Washington Post cited a source saying he/she didn't expect additional punishment.
If the league gets it right, Niskanen shouldn’t be suspended. (Update: Niskanen reportedly will not have a hearing with DoPS.)
Up for debate is the intent behind the play. On replay and in slow motion, Niskanen’s check looks brutal. He sees Crosby coming and lays the shaft of his stick right to the side of Crosby’s face. It was an irresponsible and illegal play, there’s no doubt about that.
In real time, though, it looks more reactionary than anything. After taking a high stick and skate-on-skate collision from Alex Ovechkin (which went unpenalized) while driving to the net, Crosby was knocked off balance and was falling towards Niskanen when the cross check happened. It looked like Niskanen may have just reflexively braced for impact.
That’s the way the defenseman told it after the game.
“I wasn’t even trying to cross-check him with a serious amount of force,” Niskanen told reporters. “A collision was gonna happen there in the crease. When the play first starts I think my stick’s at about his arm level probably, right away where the numbers are on the side of his jersey.”
Pittsburgh veteran Chris Kunitz saw far more malice from his point-of-view.
“You look at it once and you see what actually happened,” Kunitz said. “I think the next thing is watching how deliberate it was when the guy kind of cross-checks him in the face.”
“I thought all that was kind of out of this league,” Kunitz added, “but I guess not.”
Regardless of intent, the play needed to be punished. Niskanen needs to be in control of himself and his stick at all times, so obviously he can’t get away with driving his lumber into the side of an opponent’s head – especially when it’s Sidney Crosby on the receiving end.
Some have argued that Niskanen’s punishment on the ice was on the harsher side and that a two-minute penalty would have sufficed. A lot of those same people will argue that Crosby’s star status played a factor in elevating the penalty call from minor to major.
They may even be right.
It can be said that Crosby often gets the benefit of the doubt when it comes to officiating. (Earlier this year we saw him literally chop a guy’s finger off and then whack another in the groin in the same week without being penalized for either). The same can also be said for other stars … in other sports … everywhere. Star quarterbacks draw cheaper roughing the passer calls, star basketball players can drive the lane and usually expect to come away with free throws if there’s even minimal contact, etc.
Within reason, it’s fine and fair to give a little extra protection to star players. Sports tend to be more fun and entertaining when they’re not injured. That’s not to say that those star players should be held to a completely different set of rules or standards, but you want to keep them in action – especially during the postseason.
When an NHL official sees a guy like Crosby – the game’s brightest star – laying face-down in the aftermath of an infraction, it’s not hard to understand why the hammer would be brought down and the guilty party would be sent to the showers early.
But considering the circumstances of the incident – Crosby falling toward Niskanen, the speed of the play – and without substantial evidence of intent, it’s hard to say that the defenseman, who isn’t known as a dirty player, deserves to miss more time.
It sucks that Niskanen’s bad hit found the most unfortunate recipient on the ice. It sucks for everyone -- for Crosby, who would be extremely lucky to escape yet another concussion; for Niskanen, who may not have been ejected otherwise; and for the rest of us, who now may have to watch at least some of the Stanley Cup Playoffs without the best player in the world.
