John Carlson, milliseconds short, so he’s ‘dirty’. (Caps Outsider)
Little new can be said about Tom Wilson‘s hit on Lubomir Visnovsky, or even John Carlson’s ‘late’ shot at the end of Game 6, which led to a scuffle. What becomes apparent, however, is how many folks don’t understand certain nuances of this game, or feel they’re on target with the pace of the game while having the luxury of hitting the ‘stop’ button on the tape and passing judgment well after the fact.
Hockey players, coaches and educated fans understand this: Decisions get made in milliseconds, are committed to, and exercised. Other things may happen within those milliseconds – things difficult to simultaneously be aware of – like the puck squirting away, a player turning his head, or a clock hitting zero, that could otherwise make the play late, illegal or questionable. That’s a known risk with speedy sports. Any professional player would absolutely follow through with their decision even with knowledge that they’ve got little time remaining, or circumstances within those milliseconds could change to make their play look ‘dirty.’ Referees know this too, and get criticized routinely for passing judgment on plays that are too close to call in real time.
While some players/plays are edgier than others – and there certainly are lines that get crossed with no justifiable excuse – neither of the two Caps plays fit the bill. At the very worst for the Caps, the results of these plays lead to Wilson off for two minutes (which he got), and a meaningless penalty for Carlson (oddly enough, everyone but Carlson got called at 20:00). Best case? Wilson gets into the Islanders’ heads (mission accomplished), and Carlson scores a goal that at least gives the Caps some momentum going into Game 7 (or, he ticks off the Islanders who lose their cool heading into Game 7. Either works.).
In the case of these two Caps’ plays, even the Islanders understand what really happened. But since they’re on the receiving end of these ‘cheap’ shots, they choose not to stand for it and let it get to their heads. So they fight Wilson, they go after Carlson, and the Islanders fans toss around words like ‘cheap’ and ‘dirty’ (all while tossing beer bottles at players).
Pot = stirred. That’s part of the game, especially in the playoffs.
One last awful argument I’ve heard more than once: Carlson shouldn’t have taken that final shot because they were already down two and even if it had gone in, they would’ve still lost. So, according to these Islanders fans, the Caps should have just stopped playing altogether because there wasn’t time to come back. Brilliant minds there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7ynW4fC0NI
