Midday Musings — June 12th
Will Boling
On Monday, we put Nashville on the couch. We had group therapy on the air after the Predators’ loss.
Not even a premature whistle could’ve stopped our analysis to begin the week.
We took a lot of calls from fans commiserating about the referees, Crosby and Gary Bettman. We also discussed Colton Sissons’ goal that was wiped off by a premature whistle that should have been overturned with replay.
Legendary former referee Kerry Fraser, who joined us at 2:45, agreed.
“It was unfortunate. It’s happened to all of us. Not taking anything way from Pittsburgh…but on that play, you want to get to the net. In this play, there was no imminent activity that would necessitate a quick whistle,” Fraser said.
Referee Kevin Pollack, according to Fraser, wasn’t getting to the net quickly enough.
“Video review has the opportunity to review and award the goal, when the whistle had no bearing on the goal crossing the line,” Fraser added.
But as PK discussed both on and off air, the Penguins were still the better team. The Predators did not lose the series because of the overturned goal, they lost the Stanley Cup Final because they failed to show up in multiple games on the road. That’s the difference.
We talked at length about the premature whistle, and why it should have been called a goal. In the opening week of the season this past year, referees went to video replay to overturn a premature whistle on a Flames-Sabres overtime winner.
The referees explained that the puck crossed the line before the whistle was blown, therefore it was a good goal. If officials have the ability to make that call, they should be given the authority to overturn an inadvertent whistle when the puck wasn’t actually frozen.
Behind the scenes, our show was surprised at how Predators fans reacted at the trophy presentation. Fans booed commissioner Gary Bettman, who helped keep the Predators in Nashville. Fans threw beer cans at Penguins players while they celebrated.
It doesn’t matter how bad the referees were, you can’t stoop to that level. As good as Nashville looked in the postseason, the Bridgestone Arena crowd on Sunday night was disappointing.
Two guys who weren’t disappointing on Monday? Mattias Ekholm and P.K. Subban. Nashville’s second line defensive pairing were at their best on Sunday night. Pekka Rinne was also back in great form the entire night.
John Feinstein joined us for his weekly visit in the 1 o’clock hour. He had some interesting comments on the relationship between P.K. Subban and the national hockey media.
“There is a race element in play. If he’s white, and acted the way he did, we wouldn’t get this reaction,” Feinstein said.
In Mike Millbury’s eyes, Subban is a threat. He’s a catastrophic deviation from the norm that has ruled a traditional sport for 100 years now.
But he’s also a star on the ice. That’s what makes the difference. He makes just as much noise on the ice as he does off it. And the hockey world feels threatened, similarly to how baseball struggles to embrace the big personalties of Bryce Harper or Marcus Stroman.
Subban is an established phenom under club control
The sky is not falling, Preds fans.
Sure, it’s disappointing and heartbreaking to get so close to a championship and fall short, but this team isn’t going to change much going into next season.
Mike Fisher’s contract is up and the Predators will lose one big contributor to the expansion draft, but David Poile has plenty of cap space to work with this offseason.
The average age of the Predators’ starters in game six — 29 years old. And that’s isn’t counting regular starters Kevin Fiala (19) and Ryan Johansen (23).
Predators fans can take solace that their team showed tremendous fight despite injury issues, questionable calls and a matchup with the defending champs.
Speaking of fights, a Paul Kuharsky stream came to a painful end on Sunday night.
Paul was struck to the back of the head by the “Comfort Inn Criminal,” who was harassing a woman in the parking lot by the studio. Vigilante Paul was doing his duty as a stand up citizen to stand up for the damsel in distress.
Help us find the Comfort Inn Criminal, and bring him to swift justice. Honestly, we’d just love to get him in studio to get his side of the story.
Quote of the Day: “A video of you getting punched would be like porn to a lot of people who hate you.” — Chad on potential video footage of Paul’s bout in the parking lot
Stat of the Day: Game six was the first time in 16 home playoff games that the Predators had been shutout in a home playoff game. Game three against Anaheim was the last time.
