The start to the NHL playoffs has been anything but timid — late comebacks, brilliant goals and surprising upsets. There’s also been a ton of fights, maybe too many. So far in this year’s playoffs, too many players are worrying so much about taking out their opponent that they’re forgetting Lord Stanley’s Cup is on the line.
A short time ago I wrote a column supporting the fight between the Penguins and Flyers, and I stand by that. Fighting is a part of the game and should always remain so, but what we’re seeing now is nuts.
Players seem more concerned about taking cheap shots than beating each other on the scoreboard. It’s perfectly fine for two players to drop the gloves on one another to defend the honor of their team and teammates, but that’s not what’s going on. They’re fighting for the sake of fighting and it’s affecting the skill level on the ice.
A great example of this is the Penguins and Flyers series. The Pens were among the favorites to win the cup coming into the playoffs, but that’s disappeared quickly after they’ve been dismantled by Philly. The Pens gave up a combined 16 goals in games two and three. While those numbers obviously point to poor play by Pittsburg, goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, it also points to some bad play from the defense as Yahoo Sports’ Ryan Lambert points out.
“You can chalk at least a good portion of that up to the Penguins’ defensive systems completely breaking down in the thoroughness manner imaginable,” Lambert said.
Why is the defense completely breaking down? They’re concentrating on hurting their opponent instead of winning games. Three Penguins players were suspended after game three of the series. That is ridiculous. Losing one player to a suspension in the playoffs is bad enough, but losing three in one game is insane and proves that the Pens don’t have their heads where they should be. If they want to be physical, that’s fine. If they want to have a couple fights with their bitter Philadelphia rival, even better, but they’ve settled for fighting and cheap shots instead of winning games, and that’s wrong.
The Pittsburg-Philadelphia series is just one example, but so far in the first round, eight players have been suspended and the fight total has eclipsed that of the entire 2011 playoffs.
As Pat Hickey of the Montreal Gazette points out, we’re not seeing the skill we’re used to seeing the playoffs, but players acting selfishly and hurting their teams.
“This was the time of year when you saw the best players playing the best hockey,” Hickey said. “The emphasis was on skill. There was defense and hard hitting but clean hits were the order of the day because nobody wanted to leave his team vulnerable by taking a dumb penalty.”
While fighting is an exciting part of hockey, it’s gone too far in these playoffs. At the end of the day the Stanley Cup is still on the line and that should trump everything else. A team can hit, punch and cheap-shot their opponent all day, but it doesn’t matter in the end if they lose the game.
More teams need to concentrate on winning with goals — not with fists. In the end the ultimate victory isn’t knocking your opponent out, but hoisting the cup. That’s what this game is all about and it’s the ultimate slap in the face to any opponent.
Kevin Bingaman can be reached at [email protected]