With two minutes left in a crucial Pacific Davison match up in Los Angeles last night San Jose Sharks forward Ryane Clowe reached his stick over the boards from the bench and poke checked the puck away from Jarret Stoll. What was clearly a too many men penalty, or delay of game or something was somehow missed by all four striped men on the ice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL6ThNM9s4c&feature=related
The game was tied at five at that point and with both teams scoring at will on their power plays; the extra man that the Kings should have been awarded may have changed the outcome of the game. Of course to say for sure that the Kings would have won would probably require a DeLorean and a Flux Capacitor, both of which are hard to come by.
There is a lot of outrage coming out of Kings nation over this oversight.
Did the officials botch this? Of course they did. Should we be upset? No. This is nothing more than the cosmos slapping the Kings upside the head with a dose of karma.
It was only this past February when the Staples Center clock operator managed to stop time giving the Kings an extra second that allowed them to break at 2-2 tie against Columbus at the end of the game. They got two points for that game when it should have gone to overtime. An overtime where they may have only ended up getting one point.
That extra point is looming a bit large right now.
Again, the Kings may have still beaten the Blue Jackets in that game-we’re googling flux capacitors now-but as it stands the Kings benefited from a blown call.
There is an old saying in sports that bad calls end up evening out in the end. That was on display last night in Los Angeles and the Kings just paid off their bad clock debt.
Sports fans are always quick to blame an official’s call, or in this case non-call, for their team losing a crucial game. Looking at last night, the Kings have nobody to blame but themselves. They simply gave the Sharks too many chances to hang around in the game.
The Kings penalty kill was not too stellar last night and allowed the Sharks to tie and eventually take the lead on the power play. The Sharks scored three of their five regulation goals with the extra man. That kind of sloppy play had nothing to do with Clowe’s stick.
In the end the Kings may have been robbed of a crucial point, but they had financed that point in February and the payment was finally due. All is not lost however, if they win in San Jose on Saturday they still may see their Pacific Division dreams come true. Keep a close eye on the Sharks bench though.
Andrew writes about the WHL and NHL Draft Prospects. He also covers the Seattle Thunderbirds for 710 ESPN Seattle and spent two years with Sportsnet. Follow him on Twitter @andyeide.
Disrespect for the game, Clowe should be suspended. The league and their willful acceptance of rules being ignored is making the NHL a JOKE. Does anyone remember the mandatory suspension on Malkin that was waived so that he would not miss a playoff game? How about waiving a rule so that Radulov can come back just for the playoffs after the trade deadline. Bettman needs to be removed.
As a Kings fan, I have to shrug off the bad non-call, even though it very possibly cost the Kings the win. As for the notion of “karma”, cut the writer some slack. He was going with a theme to tie the article together. You don’t have to agree with it, but it doesn’t make him an idiot for asserting it.
I read it as a somewhat whimsical opinion. Everyone is entitled to theirs. I don’t share it, but I’m not going to get upset that he feels that way.
I cant believe i just read an article basing 2 completely different situations on karma. you must either A) believe in unicorns and shit or B) be a boston fan. Bad article.
Unicorns wearing a Bruins jersey?
why dont you sit down and go over every single iffy call in the nhl and then wager whos in debt for karma and whos not, then you can flex your indian religious opinions in your next dumb write up. You’re the type of philosopher that is sitting on a del computer, hacking up these ignorant articles, wearing a star wars tee, and preparing for the zombie apocalypse to happen…you nerd.
It would seem some commentators are missing the obvious point – and it’s in the Title – Karma –
The understatement of the year :)
It’s hard to choose, but I’d say the most absurd sentence in your piece was “Should we be upset? No.”
We shouldn’t be upset that this level of unsportsmanship is tolerated? We shouldn’t be upset that a front-line player is stupid enough to put his team at risk of a two-man disadvantage in the pivotal time of a pivotal game? Most important, we shouldn’t be upset at this level of incompetence from an NHL officiating crew?
Why is a linesman looking backward when the puck is well up-ice? What call is he expecting to make?
After these comments, you deserve to report on things you know about, like how tall farmer johns corn is growing, somewhere in the flatlands. Leave the hockey reporting to grown men. YOUR A IDIOT!
“YOUR A IDIOT!”
I believe it’s YOU’RE AN IDIOT.
You are welcome.
Sorry, we can’t all be as smart as you, seeing your stupid comments about Karma. Show’s you have alot to learn about hockey.
A clock malfunction is a far cry from a player making a decision to cheat.Clowe isn’t a rookie & that was no error.
Ridiculous point. First, as regards the playoff race, the Kings-Columbus game involved 1 point. The Kings also would have begun OT with a power play against the worst team in the league. The Sharks non-call involved 3 points, the 1 extra point for the Kings and the 2 the Sharks wouldn’t have gotten if the Kings had scored on what would have been a 2-man advantage. Third, Clowe did something outrageously bush league. All Doughty did was shoot the puck at the goal.
A computer error vs a human choice? Doesn’t add up. You are acting like a kings employee purposely messed with the clock. The fact is technology isn’t perfect and the kings did not CHOOSE to have the clock mess up. Clowe on the other hand CHOSE to stop that puck. Your points do not make any sense when you take technological error vs human error into consideration. Your biast point of view may have effected you on this one.
I am focusing on the result, not the action, which of course weren’t the same.
Not sure what bias you think I have since I’m not fan of either team.
No you’re a moron.
technology isn’t perfect, human neither.
Solid article… Last night was a case of whinny Kings fans blowing up a situation. Yes, it was a bad play on the part of Clowe (who also did lots of good things might I add: a goal, assist and two fights) but it was an error on the part of the official. It happens. They were in the neutral zone – far from goal territory. The play could have panned out or it could have not. Good point about the Kings fortune last year. Every team gets something thrown their way one time or another and unfortunately the Kings were on the losing end of that this time. They’re still in the playoffs so it wasn’t that monumental. And Clowe is a respectful leader with no track record of being dirty or “cheating”.
tell that to the dallas players who just got eliminated by that play
Solid article “lol”
Yes, a clock malfunction is the same as Clowe acting like a douche and playing the puck from the bench.
Completely different situations. One is/was a technical issue, the other is a pathetic bush league move which showed Clowe’s lack of ethics.
And actually, if there is Karma, at some point, Clowe will eat a tipped shot while he’s on the bench
well this is a bad article. a player on a team who is directly competing with a rival for points flat out cheats, whereas months ago LA played til the buzzer and a possible technical hitch gave them a fortuitous point they probably yould have got anyway…?
come on, there’s no way they’re ethically equivalent
Results were the same. Not defending Clowe or did I ever claim either play had any ethics involved, but the Kings benefited against Columbus and got screwed last night. It all evens out.
Sharks fans should be worried that one of their ‘Leader’ thought touching the puck was a good idea. Probably one of the bigger issues here moving forward.
Could you possibly me any more ignorant?
It’s possible
You, sir, are a pathetic excuse for a hockey writer. The fact that you would call that bogus play “karma” is asinine. If you actually knew a thing or two about hockey, you’d know that the clock is constantly recalibrating throughout the game. After that incident, I started watching the clock in games in other buildings as well, and the recalibration is a common occurrence. Furthermore, the NHL has investigated this stoppage and determined it to be a NON-ISSUE. Why would a person employed by the NHL, NOT by the Kings, risk their job by intentionally stopping the clock in the last second for the microscopic chance that a player might actually score?
Hockey is played on ice right? Can you please forward me examples of other incidents where the clock ‘recalibrates’ right before the end of a period? Clearly you’ve done some research on this. I’d love to see it.
No matter how it happened, the Kings benefited from it and got burned last night, bad calls even out.