Refs maintain a tight rein on Jets and Wild
Guys in stripes try to keep playoff intensity from boiling over, writes Ken Wiebe.
The intensity is rising and the referees are trying to get a handle on the rough stuff after the whistle.
It was obvious the standard of officiating for Game 3 was different from the first two games and that was by design.
On several occasions, the men in stripes chose to pick one player out of a scrum — which is one way to try to limit the number of melees and the extracurricular activities.
“Even around the league, you look at the playoff series, and the first few games were physical bordering on crossing the line,” said Winnipeg Jets captain Blake Wheeler. “Guys getting hurt. Guys hitting guys in the head, elbowing guys when they’re on their knees. We all want to play hard, we all want to finish every check, play within the lines, within the rules. I think they’re trying to clean some of that stuff up. Let the guys hit each other as hard as they want, but the BS, there’s no place for that.”
When the standard is tighter, how does that impact a series like the one between the Jets and Minnesota Wild?
“You play as hard as you can between whistles,” said Wheeler. “Scrums are going to happen. It doesn’t change anything. Our team, we play extremely hard and extremely fast between whistles. The guy has the puck and his head down, try to get a lick on him, separate him from the puck. Nothing changes.”
Wild head coach Bruce Boudreau isn’t expecting things to calm down. It’s the time of the season when things ramp up and frustration often mounts.
“They’re going to get emotional, and they’re going to get passionate, and there’s still going to be scrums,” said Boudreau.
“What are the refs supposed to say? ‘Aw, you guys can keep doing that.’ Well, you want a game where there are no scrums, if I was a referee. No scrums. No fights. No hacking and whacking on both sides where you have to make calls. So that’s the way you talk, but the reality is, these are two teams that really want to win and they’re going to do whatever they have to do to win, and that’s the nature of the playoffs, why people watch playoffs, because they’re so much more intense than a regular season game.
“I just think it’s a daily buildup of emotion and passion and usually at the start of the game and in the first period is when it usually happens or if it gets out of hand like you saw in a couple games (Monday) night or even in our games in Winnipeg. When you start to lose it, teams get frustrated and that’s when teams start to take out their anger.”
It certainly wasn’t a set
of circumstances he’d care to repeat, but Jets backup goalie Steve Mason will take whatever he can get right now.
Mason was limited to 13 NHL games with the Jets and another start with the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League this season because of a pair of concussions and a knee injury.
Mason played the third period and turned aside all seven shots he faced after Connor Hellebuyck gave up six goals on 22 shots on goal in Sunday’s 6-2 loss to the Wild.
“It was nice for me to get back out there,” said Mason. “I’ve been putting lots of extra time in, before and after practice, so to get a little bit of playing time was important.”
Mason, who built a strong relationship with Hellebuyck starting in training camp, has ample Stanley Cup playoff experience to draw on, but he didn’t need to offer Hellebuyck any advice after the Jets’ No. 1 goalie was pulled in Game 3.
“I don’t think there’s really a whole lot you need to say to him,” said Mason. “He understands the situation, where it’s just one game. In the playoffs, it doesn’t matter if you lose 7-0 or 1-0, at the end of the day it’s just a loss and the quicker you can put it behind you, the better.”
Minnesota Wild left winger Zach
Parise has a broken sternum that will keep him out for multiple weeks, an injury that occurred late in Game 3.
The Wild revealed the injury about three hours before Game 4 against the Jets. General manager Chuck Fletcher announced Parise’s status as “week to week.”
Parise scored in each of the first three games of the series. He is the Wild’s all-time playoffs leader with 14 goals and 31 points. After recovering from microdiscectomy surgery on his back and missing the first 39 games, Parise scored 12 goals in the last 19 games of the regular season.
The Wild are already missing standout defenceman Ryan Suter because of a broken ankle. The NHL announced on Tuesday afternoon that puck drop for Friday’s Game 5 between the Jets and Wild will be around 7:35 p.m. Eastern.
Times for Games 6 and 7, if necessary, are still to be determined.
They’re going to get emotional, and they’re going to get passionate, and there’s still going to be scrums.