New York Islanders Head Coach shares his frustration that no penalty was called on Alex Ovechkin
After last night's loss to the Washington Capitals in overtime, head coach Lane Lambert was not happy with the officiating. During the second period the Capitals were putting offensive pressure on the Islanders who needed either a stoppage of play or to clear the puck out of their zone. The puck came around the corner boards were Jean-Gabriel Pageau lifted his stick high in the air to slap shot the puck out of the zone. Sadly, for Pageau his positioning left him defenseless, and he was hit hard by Alex Ovechkin. Pageau's head and shoulders look to take a beating on that hit. Pageau did leave the game for a bit probably to be evaluated but he did return to finish the game.
Lambert and the Islanders team was upset that no penalty was called on the play. Lambert, who rightly defended his player, thought for sure some type of penalty should be called. The officiating crew did review the play for a major penalty but concluded that there was no penalty on the play even though Pageau was hurt on the play.
Either way this was a tough call to make. Pageau did the right thing by clearing the puck, but Ovechkin made him pay the price to do so. Imagine a six foot three two hundred thirty-pound guy bearing down on you. Yikes. Ovechkin never left his feet; he just finished his check. Although you don't like seeing anyone get hurt, I though in this case the refs made the right call. They even went back and reviewed the play, which was the right thing to do. Hopefully Pageau will be all right and won't miss any time out of the Islander lineup.
| POLL | ||
Do you think this hit was clean? | ||
| Yes, it's a clean hit | 21 | 45.7 % |
| No, it's a charging/boarding | 25 | 54.3 % |
| List of polls | ||
