Old-time hockey returns with coaches in the NHL playoffs | Sport

Not long after that Peter DeBoer joked that Minnesota takes a lot of penalties, Dean Evason accused the Dallas players of diving.

Sheldon Keefe suggested that the Tampa Bay players had manipulated referees during the fracas, prompting Jon Cooper to say he was confused by what his fellow Torontonian was up to. Rod Brind’Amour sounded like a missed call that left Carolina’s Teuvo Teravainen with a broken hand, which surprised Lane Lambert’s Islanders with zero power in the game.

No one is standing on the bench yelling at each other just yet, but the first round of the NHL playoffs is an old-school throwback to the coaches of yesteryear who have come off the ice to set the tone for their teams in the thick of things. brawl series. Observation is in full swing.

I love it, retired Stanley Cup-winning coach Ken Hitchcock said Monday. Its one sided skill. You do everything you can to get an advantage over the other guy. Some of the coaches who are there right now are not backing down.

Hitchcock knows it all from his wars with everyone Lindy Ruff and John Tortorella for the late Hall of Famer Pat Quinn.

Ruff older and gentler now coaching the New Jersey Devils in the playoffs said in 2006 that Hitchcock’s Flyers were acting like idiots.” The 64-year-old Tortorella, who returned to the league in Philadelphia in 2004, said Hitchcock should close the yap.

Has he come back from that gopher hole? Hitchcock answered in that Eastern Conference final. I have to do the drug thing.

This spring back and forth is significantly more subtle.

After him The Stars evened their series against the Wild in game two which included seven foul penalties, DeBoer made a point to say: Minnesota takes penalties. They are the sixth most penalized team in the league, so we were ready for that. Evason said the next day that he and his staff watched every interview, adding that bigger people in Dallas probably died pretty easily in that hockey game.

DeBoer called it Evason’s flexion.

Look, if I was coaching one of the most punishing teams in the league, I’d probably do the same thing, DeBoer added. Good coaching from him.

That same night, Brind’Amour appealed a tomahawk chop by New York’s Jean-Gabriel Pageau that fouled Teravai and was not called a penalty. Lambert called it a play that happens 25, 30 times a game and wasn’t made with the intention of being offensive.

Toronto’s Keefe applauds opponents Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov for fighting Auston Matthews and Ryan O’Reilly during the Lightning-Leafs game Saturday night. This is a classic example of a veteran championship team like Tampa Bay manipulating the refs and taking advantage of the situation.

Kudos to Tampa for recognizing the situation, Keefe said. It’s a free pass. You do what you will, and not only do they get out of it unscathed, but they take Matthews and O’Reilly into the box with them. Lightning’s great game in manipulating the situation.

The next day, Tampa Bay’s Cooper seemed confused.

Manipulated judges? I’m not sure what that means,” Cooper said. He went on to say that everyone in the audience believed his team would get a power play. The Lightning fell short and then lost in overtime.

Veteran coach Bruce Boudreau, who was fined $5,000 in 2018 for criticizing a failed penalty call in a playoff series, said coaches balanced getting a point without crossing the line, especially because the league office warns against it.

You really have to know how far you can go, Boudreau said. At the end of the day, it’s all just game play.

All of this pales in comparison to the old days when coaches Ruff did it in the regular season in 2007, often trying to get to the other bench. Tortorella even tried to enter the opponent’s locker room after the ice fight.

But pranking the camera can still earn you a phone call or two later.

When the judges go home, do you think they’re just going to watch Chicago PD when they go home?” Boudreau said. They watch highlights just like we do.”

Boudreau said he watched Evason, his and his successor’s longtime assistant in Minnesota, yell after the Wild’s loss to the Stars on Sunday when he was asked about a few penalty calls when he didn’t cross that line.

Everyone in the hockey world watched that game, Evason said. We all know what happened. I’m not going to comment on them. We have our opinions, but what’s the point?

League fines are a deterrent. But biting your tongue is a lot less fun for Hitchcock.

Whatever edge you find, whatever edge you use, he said. You do whatever you can.

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