NEWSLETTER
If you haven’t seen the collision between John Tavares and Corey Perry from last night, you’re not going to get it here. Sorry, I don’t want to share it any more than it already has been. You can find it. It was an ugly hit and one that cannot be placed on Corey Perry for what happened. At full speed in hockey, sometimes collisions are unavoidable and more often than not, those kinds of collisions are bad news. This was one of the worst that I can remember in a long time. The fallout from the hit is going to be talked about extensively in the hockey world today.
• First and foremost, it appears that Tavares is doing “okay” after the collision and after being treated at the hospital.
An update on @MapleLeafs captain John Tavares. pic.twitter.com/sV0dlfpdI8
— Leafs PR (@LeafsPR) May 21, 2021
• The chain-reaction of events started with Tavares being clipped by Ben Chiarot and knocking him off the puck. With Perry in pursuit of the puck, he’s not looking at Tavares tumbling in front of him and has nowhere to go to avoid contact. Perry tied to jump out of the way of Tavares at the last moment, but hits knee-on-head with the Maple Leafs Captain and knocks him out.
• It was an unsettling scene with Maple Leafs and Canadiens medical staff attending to Tavares as he tried to get back up off the ice.
• The game was stopped for a while as the medical staff treated Tavares and eventually placed him on the stretcher to take him off the ice. He left the ice with reassurance to the players on the ice and the fans watching on TV, giving a thumbs up as he left the game.
John Tavares gives a thumbs up from the stretcher after a scary head injurypic.twitter.com/PoMO2YRl94
— Hockey Night in Canada (@hockeynight) May 21, 2021
• And now we just go back to playing hockey?
• Watching the aftermath of the hit, you can see in many of the Maple Leafs players’ faces and even some of the Canadiens, that their heads were taken right out of the game as they watched what was going on. I can’t imagine seeing a teammate, a friend, get hit like that and be in that state and then have to just resume playing like nothing happened.
• It was clear as the game resumed that the Maple Leafs were affected by what happened and might not have been able to recover for the night.
• Speaking of the game resuming, right at the first drop of the puck once they got back to the game, Nick Foligno and Corey Perry dropped the gloves.
https://twitter.com/HeresYourReplay/status/1395532161315446789?s=20
• Call me “soft.” Tell me I don’t understand fighting. Tell me I would understand if I had played the game (I did/do). I don’t care. This fight was one of the dumbest I’ve ever seen. What purpose does this serve? Say what you want about Corey Perry being a dirty player, I won’t disagree with you, but there is a less than zero percent chance that the collision with Tavares was intentional. What “bell” is he answering here? It’s unnecessary.
When asked by @JohnLuTSNMtl if any Leafs accused him of the hit being intentional, Corey Perry said:
“I mean, it’s an accident. All [Foligno] said was ‘let’s settle this now. I know it’s an accident,’ he said. But it’s their captain, so it is what it is. That’s all I can say.”
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) May 21, 2021
• The “unwritten rules” of baseball and how absolutely ridiculous they are has been in the news recently thanks to the White Sox and Tony La Russa. Hockey’s “code” is right up there with the stupidity in its implementation. When your justification for fighting in that scenario is “gotta do what you gotta do” and “it is what it is,” sorry, you’ve lost me.
• For more insight and nuance to the whole situation, I highly recommend reading the latest from The Athletic’s James Mirtle
• At the end of the day, I just hope that Tavares is going to be able to recover and be healthy. Unfortunately for the Maple Leafs, I’d be shocked if he comes back to play in the postseason.
• On to the rest of the action from last night.
• The Canadiens were able to take Game One over the Maple Leafs, 2-1, thanks to an incredible effort from Paul Byron.
https://twitter.com/HeresYourReplay/status/1395562028266315781?s=20
• That’s going to be on highlight reels forever.
• Two former Blackhawks got on the scoresheet last night. First, Gustav Forsling came up big for the Florida Panthers late in Game Three against the Lightning.
FORSY FORCES OT 🚨 pic.twitter.com/91fW9qgxiG
— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) May 21, 2021
• And in the overtime period, the Panthers completed a wild 6-5 win over Tampa Bay to make it a 2-1 series lead for the Lightning.
https://twitter.com/HeresYourReplay/status/1395556167506595850?s=20
• The other Blackhawk making noise last night was Ryan Hartman as he scored the game’s opening goal last night in Game Three of the Golden Knights-Wild series.
Kirill Kaprizov sets up Ryan Hartman to give the #MNWild the early lead pic.twitter.com/uKQw7GbSVj
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) May 21, 2021
• Unfortunately for Hartman and the Wild, Vegas roared back from a 2-0 deficit to take a 2-1 series lead with a 5-2 win in Game Three.
• Four games on the docket tonight:
Capitals-Bruins Game Four (BOS 2-1)
Hurricanes-Predators Game Three (CAR 2-0)
Jets-Oilers Game Two (WPG 1-0)
Avalanche-Blues Game Three (COL 2-0)
• Speaking of the Capitals, a Happy 40th Birthday to Capitals goaltender and former Blackhawks draft pick Craig Anderson!
Happy 40th Birthday to former #Blackhawks goalie (and current Washington Capital) Craig Anderson! pic.twitter.com/7AEDftuWwq
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) May 21, 2021
• Also in action today, the IIHF World Championships open in Riga, Latvia. Already underway this morning, Russia taking on the Czech Republic and Germany facing Italy. Two games featuring Blackhawks players as Nikita Zadorov and Max Shalunov skate for Russia against Dominik Kubalík for the Czechs, and prospect Lukas Reichel skating with Germany. Also playing later this afternoon will be Nicolas Beaudin, Brandon Pirri, and Brandon Hagel with Canada as they take on host-nation Latvia.
https://twitter.com/BN_Blackhawks/status/1395718263447998473?s=20
• Not in action today, but will be tomorrow afternoon is the eighth Blackhawks player to be playing at the World Championships as Philipp Kurashev and Switzerland plays against the Czech Republic.
• That’s all for today. TGIF Friday, right?
