{"id":498324,"date":"2026-03-11T16:09:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T16:09:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/498324\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T16:09:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T16:09:21","slug":"avalanche-nathan-mackinnon-owed-apology-from-nhl-after-ejection-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/498324\/","title":{"rendered":"Avalanche, Nathan MacKinnon owed apology from NHL after ejection call"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good Nate, Nurse, what kind of call was that?<\/a> Quincy Magoo could plainly see<\/a> that Darnell Nurse knocked Nathan MacKinnon straight into Connor Ingram\u2019s noggin.<\/a><\/p>\n

So how come NHL referee Kelly Sutherland couldn\u2019t?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe goalie\u2019s hurt, so it\u2019s five (minutes on the penalty)?\u201d Avalanche coach Jared Bednar groused after Colorado lost MacKinnon to a game misconduct ejection and went on to lose to the Oilers, 4-3, late Tuesday night. \u201cI really don\u2019t give a crap if their goalie\u2019s hurt. That\u2019s on their D-man. Not our guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Darn straight. With 37 seconds left in the second period of Avs-Oilers at Ball Arena, all holy heck broke loose. With Colorado on a power play, MacKinnon took a cross-ice pass from Brock Nelson near the right face-off circle. The Avs center built up his usual head of steam into the crease.<\/p>\n

Only about a step before the paint, Nurse, the Oilers\u2019 defenseman, dove and pushed his head and right shoulder into MacKinnon\u2019s left hip.<\/a><\/p>\n

In a flash, the Avs veteran flew right into a sprawling, helpless Ingram, who recoiled at the contact. The Edmonton goalie collapsed into his own net. He suffered a cut on his forehead and eventually left the game under his own power. Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said later that league concussion protocol prevented Ingram from re-entering the game.<\/p>\n

A lengthy replay review ensued, one that even included the zebras bringing a small tablet into the penalty box where MacKinnon was seated, waiting to hear his fate. The whole scene became surreal. Only not as surreal as the verdict: A major penalty and a game misconduct for goalie interference.<\/p>\n

\u201cNate\u2019s got some of the best spatial awareness in the league,\u201d Avs defenseman Cale Makar told reporters later. \u201cHe\u2019s not going to cut into the goalie like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a 2-minute minor for Nate Dogg and an unfortunate break for Ingram. Because if Nurse doesn\u2019t put his head into MacKinnon\u2019s hip in the first place, MacKinnon doesn\u2019t ding Ingram in the head.<\/p>\n

Now let\u2019s make this clear, first and foremost: Head injuries are no laughing matter. Hockey isn\u2019t a contact sport. It\u2019s a collision one. Rules that protect defenseless players should be followed and enforced to the letter of the law.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, watch the play again. From any angle.<\/p>\n

At game speed. given MacKinnon\u2019s prodigious pace, it looks like one of those nasty, old-school special teams collisions that the NFL has tried to legislate out of its game.<\/p>\n

But then watch it slowed down. Watch Nurse, No. 25 in white. Watch MacKinnon\u2019s feet right before the defender makes contact. Then watch his sudden change of direction almost immediately afterward as he goes flying into oblivion.<\/p>\n

Then ask yourself two questions:<\/p>\n

1. Where was the intent to injure Ingram? MacKinnon doesn\u2019t exactly have a rep of needing to run over goalies to score.<\/p>\n

2. Once Nurse has lowered his shoulder and slid into contact, where else was MacKinnon supposed to go? The D-man was on his back. Any backpedaling option was blocked. Thanks to Nurse, the only available path was forward \u2014 straight into the goaltender.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Nate makes an effort,\u201d Avs forward Nazem Kadri told reporters after the game. \u201cHe\u2019s diving across the top of the crease to try to get out of the way. That\u2019s part of the rule, for the player to at least make some sort of attempt.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was clear contact, and I have no idea how that was a 5-minute (major).<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a great game up until that (call). I think it was a good battle out there. Players were playing hard and it\u2019s unfortunate that\u2019s how it\u2019s got to end.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unfortunate that, in a nationally televised game featuring MacKinnon and the Oilers\u2019 Connor McDavid, the officials somehow decided to make it about them.<\/p>\n

\u201c(The) explanation we got from the refs was that (Nurse) didn\u2019t nudge him enough into the goalie. (That) he was taking his route there already,\u201d Makar told reporters. \u201cObviously, there\u2019s a lot of gray area in that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just not enough between the ears.<\/a><\/p>\n

Want more sports news? Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver\u2019s teams.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Good Nate, Nurse, what kind of call was that? Quincy Magoo could plainly see that Darnell Nurse knocked…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":497743,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5125],"tags":[193,1650,1466,1034,1116,144,155,198,146,5300,5,910,1117,1180,1262,517,2054,1812,4,24,1653,43,350],"class_list":{"0":"post-498324","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edmonton-oilers","8":"tag-avalanche","9":"tag-avalanche-takes","10":"tag-ball-arena","11":"tag-brock-nelson","12":"tag-cale-makar","13":"tag-colorado-avalanche","14":"tag-connor-mcdavid","15":"tag-edmonton","16":"tag-edmonton-oilers","17":"tag-edmontonoilers","18":"tag-hockey","19":"tag-injuries","20":"tag-jared-bednar","21":"tag-latest-headlines","22":"tag-more-avalanche-news","23":"tag-nathan-mackinnon","24":"tag-nazem-kadri","25":"tag-nfl","26":"tag-nhl","27":"tag-oilers","28":"tag-sean-keeler","29":"tag-sports","30":"tag-sports-columnists"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116211415175772739","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=498324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498324\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/497743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=498324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=498324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=498324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}