Bonino play draws attention to embellishment in playoffs

With one head-snap motion, Nick Bonino of the Pittsburgh Penguins reminded everyone about hockey’s dirty little secret of embellishment.

Not the same kind of player flopping that occurs in, say, the NBA, and it’s certainly not done at the same volume seen in soccer.

In hockey, exaggerating a potential penalty to get a call against the opponent has long been part of the game especially in the Stanley Cup playoffs, when everyone’s looking for an edge.

Bonino sold a highsticking penalty against Washington’s T.J. Oshie last week when replays showed the Pittsburgh forward was never hit in the face late in Game 4. The Penguins got a power play, making it easier to hang on for a win.

Canadian TV pundit Don Cherry ripped Bonino for being “phony,” and forwardturned-analyst Mike Johnson wished there was a way to suspend a player for deliberately and clearly fooling the referees.

“It’s a tough job to call those, but I think there’s times that everyone steps over the line and it’s not called,” Nashville Predators defenseman Ryan Ellis said. “It’s in the game, and it happens.”

Game officials can call embellishment minors, of course, but the league also watches for them and a panel votes weekly on possible infractions, with repeat offenders announced publicly. Since the NHL added fines and the public shaming for embellishment before the 2014-15 season, director of hockey operations Colin Campbell said, incidents that get reviewed by the league office are down sharply, from 35-40 incidents per week in 2014-15 to just 20-25 this season.

Plays like Bonino’s bring fresh headlines, but Campbell said he feels embellishment is no longer rampant after saying in June 2014 it was “out of control.”

Four embellishment penalties have been called on the ice through Sunday in these playoffs after 18 during the regular season according to Scouting the Refs, a website that tracks NHL officials (the NHL does not release the statistic).

Campbell said adding video review for embellishment to coach’s challenges for offside and goaltender interference isn’t likely because the problem isn’t rampant and the league is concerned with slowing down games too much already.

Former referee Paul Stewart, who officiated in the NHL from 1986-2003, suggested authorizing the two linesmen to call embellishment along with the two referees just as they can for too many men on the ice or delay of game for puck over the glass.

More than anything, Stewart wants the responsibility to be on coaches.

“If you said to a coach, ‘Your team has a tendency to dive and we have four examples or five and you’re sitting out,’ I’m going to tell you right now, they would stop it in half a heartbeat,” Stewart said.