Delay of game penalty can be costly

EDMONTON, Alberta — Zach Whitecloud of the Vegas Golden Knights covered his face with his gloved right hand in anguish inside the penalty box.

By the time the rookie defenseman walked out, the Dallas Stars were celebrating an overtime victory that sent them to the Stanley Cup Final.

After Whitecloud had flipped the puck over the glass for an automatic delay-of-game penalty just 2 minutes, 15 seconds into overtime of Game 5 of the Western Conference final, Dallas scored on the power play and Vegas saw its season end.

“For that type of penalty to decide a game, it doesn’t make sense,” Golden Knights coach Peter Deboer said.

Gone are the days when a player would have to mug an opponent to get called for a penalty late in regulation or in overtime of a playoff game because referees swallow their whistles. Part of the reason is that some penalties are automatic or blatant and can’t be ignored just because it’s the Cup.

“With those, it’s not subjective,” Tampa Bay Lightning forward Alex Killorn said of the delay of game calls. “Those are penalties regardless. It’s not a judgment call.”

Killorn wondered whether there are more such calls this year, when games are being played without fans in NHL bubbles Toronto and Edmonton. But there were six puck-over-the-glass penalties in the seven-game 2019 final between St. Louis and Boston.

Then again, after that call accounted for 3% of all trips to the box in the regular season, there have been 31 delay penalties through 125 games this postseason, and roughly 20% have come in overtime, according to the officials-tracking website Scouting the Refs.

Many old-timers have expressed hatred of the rule, which was put in coming out of the 2004-05 NHL lockout to discourage players from sending the puck out of play to get a breather.

“I know why that rule was put in, and I agree with it,” said Stars coach Rick Bowness, who has held a head or assistant job in the NHL every season but one since 1991.

“Now we ice it, but there was a time in our league where players (would) just flip it out because you were tired. It’s a good rule.”

Like Deboer and many in hockey, Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper isn’t a fan of the rule but understands the intent. There’s a strategy to pressuring an opposing player who has the puck in his defensive zone, knowing it can prompt a mistake from an opponent.

“They are forced errors,” Cooper said. “The reason they’re putting them over the glass is because they’re under pressure. At this time of year, the stakes are so high I’m surprised it doesn’t happen more.”

It happened again in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Stars and Lightning when veteran Dallas forward Blake Comeau sent the puck flying into the tarped, empty stands in the third period.

Comeau’s teammate Jason Dickinson said after such an accidental play, penalty killers are motivated to get him free, and the Stars did with the help of goaltender Anton Khudobin.

“Our PK has had to do a job every game,” Dickinson said. “We take a lot of penalties in the playoffs. We’re not afraid of the challenge.”