In this video you will see Jamie Mclennan slash Detroit forward Johan Franzen of the Red Wings. The Detroit Red Wings had been in Calgary's goalies crease all game, while I don't approve of this action, I do believe something had to be done to send a message. From watching a lot of hockey over the years, I think it was safe to say that Playfair sent McLennan out to send a message. I am not sure this was the intended result. Stay tuned for tonight's game as it should be interesting. I would be willing to bet that the league office will be talking to both teams before tonight's games to remind them of the consequences if things get out of hand.
It's things like this that give hockey a bad name, almost on cue the national sports media was playing this incident on their highlights today. While not a regular part of the NHL acts like this do happen. The league acted quickly giving McClennan a 5 game suspension.
Story on the NHL Site
NEW YORK (AP)-The NHL came down hard Sunday on Calgary, suspending goalie Jamie McLennan for five games and fining coach Jim Playfair $25,000 and the team $100,000 for actions late in Game 5 of the Flames' first-round series against the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday.
McLennan was given a match penalty for slashing Detroit's Johan Franzen in the midsection at 17:01 of the third period, one of four penalties the Flames were assessed for aggressive and illegal use of the stick (slashing or cross-checking) in the closing minutes of the Red Wings' 5-1 victory.
"In our pre-playoff conference calls with the coaches and general managers of the respective organizations, we addressed a number of topics and one of them was actions late in the game when the score was out of hand," NHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell said. "The coach and the organization must be held accountable for the players' actions."
McLennan's suspension was to begin with Game 6 Sunday night in Calgary. Detroit led the series 3-2.
McLennan is a spazz.
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