Crash the crease, you’d think they’d get the message. Throw the top goalie off his game just as the opposition tries to injure you goalie. Tit for tat, and guess what, Anaheim won the cup last year doing it, Vancouver did it against the Flames Sunday, Calgary needs to do it for the rest of the season. The traffic and contact in front of Luongo does not compare to the extent opposition players are crashing the crease against the Flames. It’s a shame Calgary will drop the gloves for no particular reason (change momentum?) but won’t destroy players who take liberties in front of the net.
If anybody crashes the net, theoretically the Flames should be able to out number and hammer the crashing forwards after the whistle. If Vancouver’s game is any indication, when Phaneuf got a double minor for skating around and taking punches from four Vancouver players after the whistle, the NHL will permit defensive agression after the whistle (or maybe it was just terrible reffing).
You have to play to win, and if you aren’t called for a penalty, as Vancouver wasn’t, (and Calgary did score one off a bit of interference too) then heck, run the goalies, run them hard, and run them to throw them off their game. Calgary would win a few more games against teams with great goalies if they employed this tactic, and they can protect their own goalies after whistles. That’s all in the rule book right?
You’re right about this one. Only Calgary Flames team is guilty of offences – no one else is. When the opposition tripped Vandermeer, it was Vandermeer who got penalized. Now where did this rule come from?