[mikeecho]

If you really get literal with rule 609 (b) -- "A major plus a game misconduct penalty shall be assessed to any player who injures an opponent as a result of cross checking" -- then the call on the ice is justified.

EDIT - Mistakenly referenced USA Hockey rulebook by mistake. IMHO, NHL rule is similar and open to similar literal interpretation.

The issue I have with the call is that the rule book is never interpreted so literally during the season and in the playoffs, the rule book is thrown right out.

I'd be okay if the book was called more closely instead of the prison rules that they go by, but that's not the standard that has been set.

Every single playoff game is one blatant penalty after another that goes uncalled. For every penalty called, there's 8-10 obvious ones that aren't called and in the end, the referees typically just want to make sure both teams get the same number of calls so that they don't impact the outcome of the game (which in itself impacts the outcome of the game).

The most interesting thing for me is that I don't think there's any way they call the rule book in this situation if it's a close game. In a 3-2 game, they might call a 2 minute penalty. If it was tied, I don't think they call a penalty at all. They called the 5+ because it was 3-0 with 10:00 left and no one thought a come back was possible. This is what "game management" results in.