Pavelski admits the officials blew the call in Game 7.

This was a nice bit of honesty from San Jose Sharks forward Joe Pavelski on Sunday. 

Pavelski, who has not played since he suffered a gruesome head injury in Game 7 of the Sharks first round series against the Las Vegas Golden Knights, was available to the media on Sunday. For the first time since the incident in Game 7 Pavelski spoke about what happened and most interestingly of all he addressed the big controversy that stemmed as a result of his injury. Although the Sharks would lose Pavelski for the remainder of that game and the entire 2nd round thus far, the play resulted in a 5 minute major against Las Vegas Golden Knights veteran Paul Stastny. 

The call was a controversial one because many felt it did not come anywhere near rising to the level of a 5 minute major, even when factoring in the injury to Pavelski. I don't blame the officials for making a tough call as they saw a talented player bleeding from his skull on the ice, but even Pavelski acknowledged on Sunday that the wrong call was made.

"I played against those guys for a lot of years. Friends with [Stastny]. I got no issues with that play. Was it a 5-minute major? No. I don't think it was. Am I glad they called it that way? Heck yeah."

You have to love the double dose of honest from Pavelski here. Not only does he give the Golden Knight some very small measure of justice by acknowledging that they may have gotten screwed by the officials, but he also openly admits that he was perfectly happy with that being the outcome considering how it played out for him and his team. 

No doubt this will only serve to earn Pavelski a measure of respect from fans in Las Vegas, fans that I know were already rooting for him to make a speedy recovery anyways after they witnessed that horrific injury in Game 7. It has to be noted here that Pavelski was in no way at fault for the blown call, and when you consider that he plainly stated that the guy on the receiving end of that call is a personal friend, I doubt he relished it very much either.