Will Jordin Tootoo of the Nashville Predators be Judged Fairly ?

The NHL announced Tuesday afternoon that Nashville Predators forward Jordin Tootoo has been given a two-game suspension after his hit on Buffalo’s Ryan Miller.  NHL Director of Player Safety Brendan Shanahan explained the reasoning behind the suspension by citing several things he felt Tootoo did wrong.  Tootoo, according to Shanahan, after losing the puck made no attempt to continue playing the puck, or avoid contact with Miller.   While this suspension was a step in the right direction of providing more protection for goaltenders, it brings up several questions for fans and players.  The main of these being: Why Tootoo and why not Milan Lucic? 

Tootoo made contact with Miller inside the crease while driving hard to the net.  Lucic made contact with Miller around the top of the circle in open ice.  Lucic received no suspension for the hit, however, Lucic did give Miller a concussion.  Tootoo, on the other hand, left Miller maybe a little bit rattled but unscathed.  The argument can be made that Tootoo’s actions were in immediate result of a player driving to the net and being directed by the Buffalo defender into Miller.  When reviewing the replay from certain angles it appears that Tootoo jumped in order to lessen the blow to Miller.  Once again Lucic could have avoided Miller and made no attempt to lessen the blow. 

Another thing that must be looked at when assessing the suspension is who the goaltender was.  If Tootoo had run into almost any other goaltender in the league he would have received a 2 minute minor for goaltender interference, possibly faced the other teams tough guy and been still playing.  So that causes one to ask if this had been Paul Gaustad running Nashville’s Anders Lindback would Gaustad be serving a suspension.  Gaustad after the fact appeared to be threatening Lindback which is something he was wise not to follow up on later on as Nashville has guys from their captain’s down who are willing to shed the mitts to protect their goaltender, unlike the Sabres. 

In the end there is nothing the Predators or Tootoo can do except deal with the two game suspension.  The league, however, needs to take a step back and think about its suspension policy.  The league needs to start using the same set of rules across the league.  If the league is going to toss out a suspension to Jordin Tootoo for two games, then Milan Lucic should have been suspended for at least three or four games.  In order to protect the goaltenders to the extent that they seem, by the Tootoo suspension, to want to the NHL needs to suspend any players who touch goaltenders.  As for the days where the players policed themselves well I guess the league has decided that the players cannot take care of this themselves.  Hey Buffalo there are some enforcers out there whose services you might want to look into.

- Isaac Berky

VANCOUVER AND FLYERS FALL IN CUP PLAY - BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD

Saturday was another day of surprises in the Stanley Cup playoffs.   Both games played yesterday saw the favourites fall by the wayside with stunning loses. 

The Flyers were first to go down with a crushing lose of 7-3 to the Bruins.  Boston jumped all over the Flyers and never let up.  Every half decent shot found the back of the net for the Bees and Philadelphia was half hearted in trying to stop the melt down.  Tim Thomas was not nearly as good as he was against Montreal so there is hope for the Flyers for the rest of the series.  The power forwards for the Flyers can only do so much though;  the Flyers will need net minding to compete.

Vancouver was both lucky and unlucky in yesterday's match up with Nashville.  They were lucky that someone else than the Sedins' showed up and unlucky that the Sedins' didn't show up.   The Canucks led by Luongo played a strong defensive game and looked like they were going to sneak out of the building with a 1-0 victory.  The Preds kept up the pressure and just before the end they managed to tie it 1-1 and that set the stage for OT and a 2-1 win for Nashville.  This victory could be a momentum changer.  Vancouver seems help bent on doing things the tough way.  They let Chicago back into their series and now they seem ready to do the same for Nashville.  Vancouver's coaching staff needs to wake up the stars on the Canucks and get them scoring goals.  Vancouver was #1  in scoring during the season.  They need to go back there if they want to win the Cup.

The pendulum is definitely in favour the Bruins and the Predators in their respective matchups.  Their opponents will have to redraw the battle plans to keep up.  Stay tune because this will be interesting to watch.  Expect the unexpected in the 2011 Stanley Cup race.

  

THE CANUCKS TRAIN KEEPS ROLLING ALONG - VANCOVER LOOKING LIKE CHAMPS !!!

As predicted Roberto Luongo keeps playing tight like a drum and the Canucks are taking the Predators to school.  The Sedin brothers are non-existent tonight but guys like Kesler and Higgins are giving Nashville fits.  The "Blackhawks" scare has brought this Canucks team together and now anything seems possible.  Alain Vigneault has been forced to go with character  over flash and the Canucks are playing like champs.  The Predators are the epitome of team play and they still have not been able to break the spell from this team of destiny.

Nashville has been trying everything to shake up the formula with no success.  Tootoo and "Mr.Underwood" are doing what they can but the deck seems stacked against the Predators.   Legwand and Sullivan are also having zero luck against the Canucks and the Vancouver freight train shows no sign of slowing down.  If the defence or goaltending cracks for the Preds; this could become ugly.  Luongo has held opponents scoreless for five periods now and he gets stronger minute by minute.   This game is steady and boring but hell if Vancouver comes out on top, who cares !!!  This is going to be short and sweet business if Nashville goes home down 2-0. Nashville is not Chicago

Tootoo Continues to Overcompensate for Being Named After a Dress

Of course, that would be "tutu", which is admittedly spelled differently, but how many bullies did you know growing up that took the time to differentiate between two homophones when making fun of your name? Clearly, Nashville Predator Tootoo has a lot of emotional scars from his early childhood that are still taking their toll. Here, Tootoo continued to earn his reputation as a lobotomized mental patient that tries to run over anything that moves on Thursday night. It's pretty admirable stuff really, that's he's able to soldier on and act as if he isn't just an oversized dwarf at 5'9" among a peer group of fully grown adults. Kind of brings a tear to your eye. It is the stuff Hollywood movies are made of, after all.

Against the Saint Louis Blues, Tootoo had three notable hits, but it was this charge on defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo above that may end up getting the NHL's attention (if the league brass can take time out of its busy schedule to stop throwing darts at a wall to determine the length of suspensions to be handed out). The one thing that should go Tootoo's way if he does end up getting a hearing with the league is the argument that by leaving his feet he's still only tall enough to lock eyes with any one Montreal Canadien.