I think that the NHL’s Player Safety department’s decision to hold a hearing for Dylan Larkin today is two things:
- Inevitable, like the fine and/or suspension that Larkin will earn for his match penalty (I think he’ll at least be fined the maximum amount), and;
- Bullshit.
Larkin may very well have merited a 5-minute penalty last night for his punch to Mathieu Joseph after Joseph cross-checked Larkin in the numbers and raked his stick up Larkin’s back last night, but Joseph’s intent-to-injure play was equally cheap, and, as Manon Rheaume said (quietly) in her Bally Sports Detroit debut, both players’ infractions may very well have merited ejections.
Either that, or you call double-minors for roughing on both players and let things be.
Anyway, DetroitHockey.net’s Clark Rasmussen offers his take on the situation as well, and I agree with Clark here:
What we know is that Larkin retaliated and was ejected for [his retaliation]. What we know is that the Lightning scored twice while Givani Smith was in the penalty box serving Larkin’s major penalty, getting them back in the game when they seemed done.
You could argue that without those goals, it’s a very different game, one that Detroit might have even been able to win.
For Tampa, Joseph’s cheap-shot worked. It removed Larkin from the game and, after all the power plays shook out, got them one more goal than Detroit. There is no reason for them not to make that trade every single time.
In a league where protecting its stars is supposedly a priority, Larkin was hit in the neck twice in a span of about 30 minutes of game time with seemingly no punishments to the people who did it. When he took matters into his own hands, it may very well have cost his team the game. That’s a broken system.
