I've pointed this out before but I think it bears repeating to those who say we should start punching guys in the face and doing dirty stuff after whistles like Boston. Here's why that won't work: Boston (and to a lesser extent Tampa, and a few other selected AMERICAN teams) get away with it because the refs look the other way (for whatever reason. I have my theory. Others have theirs). If we start playing that same style, it’s going to be a steady stream of players to the box. I know this sounds like the standard "the league has it in for us, Team X gets preferential treatment," ad infinitum. But the evidence consistently bears it out. Keller cross checks a guy...it’s a fine. Matthews does same thing...two games. And the list goes on and on. Our guys get hacked, slashed, cross checked, DRAW BLOOD FFS...and the NHL does NOTHING. We retalitate? Spezza...6 games. Kadri...multiple games over multiple seasons. Kerfoot...2 games...AM...2 games. Engvall...ENGVALL for the love of god...who's bucking for the Inge Hammerstrom "goes into the corner with a dozen eggs in his pocket and comes out with none broken" award....gets a game. Not to mention the 100 thousand the team got fined for leaving an hour and half early over the holidays to beat a snowstorm. The bottom line is...we can't stoop to others team's levels. Not because we're not big enough, or physical enough...but because if we start to play over the edge, we're gonna play the whole game a man (or more) down. It's just the way it is. For whatever reason, the NHL and Gary are harder on our players, more vigilant of what they do on the ice, and absolutely dish out way harsher punishments than they do to the rest of the league. That's not a conspiracy theory. The stats are there and bear it out 100 per cent. All this team can do is play through the crap, and do what it does best. Score goals, pray for solid goaltending and hope that's enough to offset the rest of it.
