Wow! This story is getting a bit silly, if not ridiculous. Seriously, some Canadiens fans want us to believe that New York Rangers forward Chris Kreider purposely ran Carey Price, with the intention of hurting if not taking out Price. I heard there's a black helicopter landing in these fans back yard, with a fully armed swat team exiting the aircraft.
If you're one of these fans that believe this, I going to refer you to the video evidence provided in this blog post. Dale Weise and Alexei Emelin both hack, and causes a Kreider to wipeout. Kreider who skating very fast on the play, has no chance of stopping due to his speed and momentum. The collision with Price, although an accident, was very violent.
According to the Canadiens, Price is done for the series.
While I agree that there is not enough evidence to make the claim that the collision was intentional I will disagree with the nonchalant attitude that "Hockey is a contact sport and collisions with the goaltender happen all of the time, that's hockey." - and that there is the problem. Collisions with goaltenders are happening much too frequently and shouldn't be dismissed as merely "part of the game." As players like Kreider and others have discovered there is a grey area when it comes to interference. Standing in front of the net and interfering with the goalie is much easier to call. Kreider's actions can easily be construed as "going hard to the net" - a hockey play and one that is usually applauded by fans. But at what point should the offensive player be deemed reckless for their actions endangering a goalie who is usually in a vulnerable position? Not necessarily "taking a run" at the goalie but not being in control, barrelling in on goal knowing full well that at full speed the risk of injuring themselves will be minimized by magnetic posts and the goalie who will absorb the full brunt of the impact? Kreider's actions will at the very least have the NHL pondering some kind of protocol to minimize such collisions from happening as too many players are taking liberties as it currently exists.
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