UPDATE: McAvoy will have a hearing for the hit with the NHL Department of Player Safety.
Blue Jackets fans rained boos (and some peanuts?) onto the ice late in the second period of Game 6 on Monday, and it wasn’t because the Boston Bruins carried a 1-0 lead into the intermission.
Instead, fans weren’t pleased about a hit by Charlie McAvoy, and what they perceived to be a light punishment for an ugly-looking hit. McAvoy received a two-minute minor for illegal hit to the head; others believed that a roughing major and game misconduct would be more appropriate.
You can see video of the hit in the video above this post’s headline. Pretty tough to argue that Anderson’s head was the principal point of contact.
There’s no avoiding a comparison to the infamous situation for the San Jose Sharks and Vegas Golden Knights in Game 6. In that case, Cody Eakin received a major penalty and misconduct for cross-checking Joe Pavelski. It was an ugly-looking injury for Pavelski, but that major opened the door for San Jose to storm back with four power-play goals, which ended up being pivotal in swinging that series. The officials who made that call were not deployed for Round 2 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs; is it possible that Monday’s Game 6 officials had that in mind ... that they didn’t want to make that big call and get it wrong?
Blue Jackets fans weren’t happy, and you could see John Tortorella repeatedly pointing to his head, and saying ... who knows what else.
Columbus carried over 1:40 of power play time, but couldn’t score. In fact, they couldn’t score against Rask at all, as the Bruins won Game 6 by a score of 3-0 to close out the series 4-2. During the handshake line, things seemed very cordial between Anderson and McAvoy, for whatever that’s worth.
What do you think about the call on the ice? Do you think McAvoy should receive a suspension? If so, for how long?
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James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.