Brady Tkachuk hit Jordan Martinook with his stick on Thursday night, and surprisingly, he only received a two-minute penalty.
Normally, an action like that would lead to a player being thrown out of the game and facing further punishment.
But that didn’t happen this time. After reviewing the moment, the referees concluded it was just a minor penalty for interfering. People will be discussing this decision a lot over the weekend.
Hitting someone with your stick is frowned upon in hockey. Only getting a two-minute penalty for it is uncommon, especially during a playoff game.
The Senators’ captain has been losing his cool all night. Earlier, Tkachuk became so angry that he slammed the door of the bench when the crowd booed Ottawa during a bad 5-on-3 power play.
This shows that the captain is not handling things well in front of the fans. It’s the worst time to behave like that, especially when so many people are watching.
Travis Green really needs his captain to take charge, not break down.
In the three playoff games, Tkachuk hasn’t contributed anything. He has no goals, no assists, and a minus-2 rating. This is the kind of frustration that can lead to outbursts.
When things go wrong, being the captain is the hardest role on the ice. You need to control your emotions and lead by example. Tkachuk hitting Martinook totally goes against that.
Martinook, a seasoned player at 33 years old for the Hurricanes, is doing his job very well. He has already scored the game-winning goal in this series and knows how to get under the skin of a star player.
Is this the leader Ottawa thought they would receive for $8.2 million? When he’s scoring goals, then yes. But when he’s hitting players and acting out, the answer is a clear no. He really needs to improve at finding a good balance between these behaviors.
Rod Brind’Amour’s squad is winning these mind games without much effort. They have kept Tkachuk from scoring in the series and forced him to make bad mistakes.
Carolina finished the game with 113 points and a goal difference of plus-56. This is a team that stays strong even when a star player has a bad day. They actually thrive on that kind of situation.
The main concern for Ottawa is not just the penalty. It’s whether the captain can turn things around fast enough to stop the series from slipping away from him.
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