I have heard a lot of grumbling about the penalty shot in question from Detroit Red Wings fans. After the game, in the postgame show on NBC Sports Net, hockey analyst Keith Jones said it was a good call and the refs have been calling this a penalty all season long.
Frankly, the officiating on both sides of the ice has been brutal during this series. The Red Wings have been allowed by the on-ice officials to take excessive liberties in the form of slashs and two handed hacks on Blackhawks forward Jonathan Toews without any calls what-so-ever. Some of these non-calls were down right brutal. So if anything, last night’s penalty show was a bit of karma coming back to bite the Red Wings in the butt. Finally, a call went the way of the Blackhawks.
Before you accuse me of being a Blackhawks fan, stop, I am not. I am Boston Bruins and Minnesota Wild Fan. I am also a hockey fan that likes to see a good hockey game and last night was an exciting hockey game. I actually could care less who wins game seven, although I do find the Blackhawks more watchable than the Red Wings and Jonathan Toews did go to the University of North Dakota.
In closing, Carlo Colaiacovo shouldn’t have slashed Michael Frolik on the hands in a scoring opportunity, if he didn’t want to put his team a man down or give up a possible penalty shot. The refs called a penalty shot, correctly. That's life. Colaiacovo made the decision to slash Frolik and he put his team in a bad situation. Now we go back to Chicago for game seven.