Quote:
Originally Posted by Locke
I'm not saying it was dirty or anything like that, but it wasnt a good hit.
The puck was gone, the defender wasnt defending anything. It was late.
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Yeah, it was a late and thus a penalty... but it's a pretty standard hockey play to clear a guy out of the front of your net after a chance. You don't hear a whistle, so you're supposed to assume the puck is loose, and if your guy is behind the net he can't get that loose puck and score, or whack at your goalie's glove / pads to try to get a garbage goal. We saw Clutterbuck do that in another game tonight (overturned on review). WE can see where the puck squirted loose to, but it's not clear to me that McAvoy knows where it is. You can argue he should have let up a bit, but the move itself had a reasonable purpose to it; you can't just let an opposing player stand there. And it's pretty hard to draw the line on just how hard you're allowed to shove a guy away from the front of your net.