Referees could get suspended for brutal penalty that led to San Jose’s comeback

We cannot deny it, we had the game of year last night when the San Jose Sharks completed the comeback to win Game 7 in overtime and win the series 4-3 over the Vegas Golden Knights. 

The Sharks were behind 3-0 in the third period as some fans started to leave the tank. However, one major turning point in the game took place and now it’s under scrutiny. 

Right after the face-off against Cody Eakin, Sharks captain Joe Pavelski was pushed by the Vegas forward. Losing his balance, Pavelski ended up in the way of Paul Stastny, who crushed him brutally on the ice in a pinball effect. 

Brent Burns took a look at his teammate and waived at the bench to get the doctor and trainers to come over fast. The trainer quickly placed a towel on Pavelski’s face as he was bleeding heavily. He fell hard on his shoulder and head, right on the ice. 

Fans started to throw debris on the ice. Referees cleared the surface and seemed motivated by the emotions of the crowd to eject Eakin out of the game. 

However, many insiders, former and current NHL players commented on the bad call, saying the penalty shouldn’t have been a major one. Clearly, the officials made the call based on emotions and the scary injury that came with it. 

“We are going to look at this game years from now and it’s going to lead to this penalty,” commented Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos after the game. 

Elliott Friedman spoke about the penalty during the third intermission and later tweeted on how the NHL will need to consider reviewing major penalties after such an incident that led to a controversial comeback.

Jonathan Marchessault couldn’t hold his tongue after his team’s devastating loss when commenting the brutal call: 

“It’s a fucking joke. It’s embarrassing is what it is.”

Several other players were also surprised to see that the penalty was a major and a misconduct. 

Here is what the league had to say about their decision at that moment: 

“The referees called a crosschecking penalty for an infraction that caused a significant injury. In their judgment, the infraction and its result merited a major penalty.”

Golden Knights head coach Gerard Gallant revealed after the heartbreaking loss that the referee informed him that Eakin was being thrown out of the game because he delivered a cross-check to the head of Pavelski... 

As we all know, that did not happen. 

You will hear about this today and … for years to come it seems!