In case of awful officiating, just break glass. And call in Nicolas Roy to clean up the NHL’s mess.
Hockey justice is supposed to be blind in April. But not nearly as blind as the referee crew that worked Avalanche-Kings Game 2.
Artemi Panarin lofted it over Scott Wedgewood on the power play with 6:56 left in the third period to break the deadlock and give the underdogs a 1-0 lead. Funny how the zebras didn’t notice the cross check in front of the Colorado goal, as Scott Laughton shoved Devon Toews halfway to Littleton.
Cale Makar? Elbow to the chin.
Marty Necas? Elbow to the nose.
That second one, a cheap shot by the Kings’ Mikey Anderson, is a felony in 45 states. On Tuesday night, it was two minutes for roughing.
Avs 2, Kings 1. Thanks to Roy’s goal off a rebound 7:44 into the overtime period, Colorado leads the best-of-seven series, 2-0.
They lead it in spite of the four blind mice in stripes. And despite Avs fans creating an extra intermission by pounding the glass so hard, they stopped the game for almost 20 minutes.
What a long, strange, weird trip of an evening. The second period had a little bit of everything. Everything, that is, except a goal.
Some goaltenders raise the roof. Wedgewood rattled the windows. Specifically, he broke the glass that separates Avs fans from the Kings’ bench.
Not directly, mind you. See, roughly 3:12 into the second stanza, Wedgie stoned a penalty shot awarded to the Kings’ Quinton Byfield, diving hard to his left and extending a glove to stop the Los Angeles forward’s backhanded try.
With that, the superb gave way to the surreal. Ball Arena, justifiably, went bonkers at Wedgewood’s stop. So bonkers, in fact, that the glass partition behind the L.A. bench completely shattered due to repeated banging by Avs faithful. The collision sent a shower of shards into the back and shoulder of unsuspecting Kings coach D.J. Smith and his staff.
And cue the weirdest of weird playoff delays. The away bench had to be cleared as cleaning and maintenance crews rushed in to sweep up debris. New glass was installed after a 17-minute delay, during which both teams remained on the ice.
In hindsight, the stoppage might have slowed down a chance for the Avs to capitalize on the juice generated from Wedgewood’s penalty save.
If the Kings tried to take a Sunday crowd out of the game by slowing the tempo, squeezing rush lanes and hitting late, their aggression got the natives worked up early in Game 2
Avs defenseman Josh Manson separated Laughton from his spine with 10:28 to go in the first. After Wedgewood smothered a Trevor Moore wrister on a Kings 2-on-1, a full-scale donnybrook exploded near the Colorado net.
Once order was restored, the assailants skated to the Kings end of the ice. But not all — Marty Necas got sandwiched between the Kings’ Mathieu Joseph and Anderson at center ice, right in front of the Kings bench, a collision punctuated by Anderson reaching up to elbow the Avs winger right in between the nostrils.
Meanwhile, Artturi Lehkonen boarded a dude behind the Los Angeles net with the subtlety of an Estes Park elk. Somebody grabbed Sam Malinski, and we had another scrap, only on the other end, and with everybody on the dance floor.
When the dust settled for a second time, Brett Kulak got four minutes — two for roughing, another two for cross-checking — in the box, and Anderson only had to serve two in his box on a roughing charge.
Nevertheless, the chippy persisted. The Kings’ 6-foot-5 forward Jeff Malott elbowed the 6-foot Makar in the face with 4:18 left in the opening stanza as they hovered above Wedgewood’s crease just before a stoppage in play.
Necas got a little of his back in the Avs’ last possession of the opening 20 minutes, shoving Anderson into the boards behind the Kings’ net a few seconds ahead of the period-ending horn. Why should Vegas and Utah have all the fun?
“I guess I’d better keep my head up, huh?” Laughton told ESPN sideline reporter — and former Avs great — Erik Johnson during a break in the action. “No bicycles on the highway.”
Here today. Goon tomorrow.
The goalie duel continued, even as the Avs generated a 3-on-1 with 4:26 left in the second period, a rush that had Ball Arena rising to its collective feet again.
Only Necas dished to Landeskog rather than ripping one while he had a good look. That little hesitation gave Forsberg enough time to snuff out both the danger and the shot.
Playoff Marty, man.
Necas: Five points in his first eight Colorado postseason games — 0.63 points per contest.
Mikko Rantanen: 101 points over 81 Avs playoff games — 1.25 points per tilt.
Shoot, Marty!
Ah, shoot, Marty.
Playoff Necas rebounded. With 3:35 left in regulation and the Avalanche down, 1-0, Marty camped out behind Kings goalie Anton Forsberg’s left shoulder, waited for help, and found an open Gabe Landeskog cutting into the crease. No. 88 fed a perfect diagonal pass to the Captain, who didn’t miss, lighting the lamp and sending another grindy contest into overtime.
No bicycles on the highway, kids. But what a ride.