Tuesday’s game between the Vancouver Canucks and New Jersey Devils was marred by two incidents that left players lying on the ice with serious injuries. Travis Zajac suffered what appeared to be a broken nose after going face first into the boards, while Philip Larsen was knocked unconscious and had to be stretchered off the ice.
Incredibly, neither play resulted in a penalty, leaving many fans of both teams angry at the referees. How could plays that had such terrible outcomes not earn a penalty?
The truth is, however, that the referees, Dan O’Rourke and Brad Meier, got both calls absolutely right and, in fact, did an admirable job with a game that very easily could have gotten out of control.
Let’s start with the Zajac injury.
Zajac gains the Canucks’ zone, then attempts to drive to the net, but is cut off by Michael Chaput, who tracks back well defensively. Zajac cuts back towards the boards and just as he does, Chaput gives him a shove in the back.
When Chaput pushes him, Zajac is far enough from the boards that you would expect him to be able to catch himself or get his arms up in front of him to avoid crashing into the boards. Instead, he lifts his head up right as he reaches the boards and smashes his nose into the dasher.
Watch Zajac’s skates as Chaput pushes him: he hits the brakes and is momentarily off-balance, putting him in a vulnerable spot. It’s the combination of being off-balance and the push that sends him into the boards harder than you might expect, but it’s not really something worthy of a penalty.
The referees agreed and when John Moore dropped the gloves and forced Chaput into a fight, he rightly got an instigator minor, putting the Canucks on the power play. And, while I can’t speak to what John Hynes said to the referees at the bench, I can’t imagine it was pleasant. I suspect he got his money’s worth when he was hit with a bench minor, giving the Canucks a 5-on-3.
As much as it was terrible to see Zajac bleeding on the ice, it was more of an unfortunate accident than something worth penalizing.
Then there’s the Taylor Hall hit on Philip Larsen.
This was horrific to watch. Seeing Larsen get knocked out cold, then get accidentally kicked in the head multiple times as the two teams got into a scrum over his still body was incredibly upsetting.
But Hall wasn’t penalized for the hit and it’s not hard to understand why.
When Larsen picks up the pass from Luca Sbisa, he’s clearly not expecting a hit. He doesn’t see Hall coming at all. It’s unusual for a forechecker to come in from that angle, but that’s why, if things had played out a little differently, it would have been a great play by Hall, creating a turnover and potentially creating a scoring chance.
Instead, because Larsen doesn’t know Hall is there, his head is down as Hall makes contact, stopping him cold in his tracks.
It’s important to be honest with what happened. There is absolutely head contact: Hall’s shoulder connects directly with Larsen’s head. But there is also fully body contact, from Hall’s elbow hitting Larsen in the chest to Hall’s hips and legs colliding with Larsen’s as well.
Hall stays on his feet and doesn’t elevate into the hit. He doesn’t charge by accelerating into the hit. He doesn’t drive into Larsen’s head with his arms. He doesn’t lower his shoulder into Larsen’s head either and, in fact, appears to let up and be leaning backwards as he makes contact.
It’s also not a blindside hit. Larsen is looking back for the puck as Hall approaches, but at the time of the hit he is facing towards Hall. He just never looks up.
Here is the relevant rule: Rule 48.
48.1 Illegal Check to the Head – A hit resulting in contact with an opponent’s head where the head was the main point of contact and such contact to the head was avoidable is not permitted.
In determining whether contact with an opponent's head was avoidable, the circumstances of the hit including the following shall be considered:
(i) Whether the player attempted to hit squarely through the opponent’s body and the head was not "picked" as a result of poor timing, poor angle of approach, or unnecessary extension of the body upward or outward.
(ii) Whether the opponent put himself in a vulnerable position by assuming a posture that made head contact on an otherwise full body check unavoidable.
(iii) Whether the opponent materially changed the position of his body or head immediately prior to or simultaneously with the hit in a way that significantly contributed to the head contact.
To my eyes, it doesn’t appear that Larsen’s head is the main point of contact, as Hall makes full body contact with the hit. The question then is whether the hit was avoidable.
To a certain extent, of course it was avoidable. Any hit is avoidable. But Hall is in on the forecheck, trying to create a turnover by hitting the puck carrier. He has a reasonable expectation that Larsen will see him coming.
But instead of trying to parse the word “avoidable,” let’s use the NHL’s standards. Section iii doesn’t apply here, but section i and ii certainly do. Hall clearly hits Larsen squarely and does not “pick” Larsen’s head. And Larsen definitely makes himself vulnerable by keeping his head down, looking at the puck.
In order to make that hit, Hall could not avoid Larsen’s head.
This conclusion sucks. Larsen was literally knocked out cold on the ice. It looked like the kind of hit that ends careers. It was scary.
But by the NHL rulebook, it was completely legal.
These two incidents demonstrate the unavoidable truth that sometimes terrible things happen and there’s no one to blame.
There are some who might see these two events as connected, as if this was a tale of revenge; an escalation of hostilities. Instead, this just seems like two unfortunate results of a physical game played at high speeds.
This is the point when the game could have really gone off the rails, but I thought the referees handled things effectively. When Erik Gudbranson went out of his way to throw a hard hit in the immediate aftermath, he got tagged with a minor penalty for the extra gloved punch he gave, quickly quelling any potential for rising tempers.
In the subsequent scrum, the referees gave coincidental minors to Alex Burrows and Devante Smith-Pelley, even if it seemed like Burrows hadn’t done much to deserve one, ensuring that the Devils got a power play for the original infraction. That sent a clear message that seeking out retribution for what was ultimately a clean hit would not be tolerated.
The game, from that point on, was completely clean. It may not be said often, but kudos to the referees for how they handled the situation.
