Somebody Has To Say It. NHL Players Need To Cut The Shit With Getting All Worked Up Over Empty Net Goals
Josh Lavallee. Getty Images.Listen, boys. I love a good unwritten rule just as much as the next guy. I think it's important to have a clear distinction between the "right" way and the "wrong" way to play the game. Unwritten rules are there to keep everybody honest, accountable, and deters 99% of the league from playing the game like a bunch of smacked asses. Of course there are some rats out there who simply don't give a shit about any rules--written or unwritten--but for the most part, unwritten rules serve a purpose in the game.
With that being said…I don't know what got into the water bottles this year across the NHL, but this new unwritten rule against scoring empty netters might be the softest thing to enter the game since the fight strap.
First of all, this isn't even remotely close to the same level of jackassery as Ridly Grieg burying the empty net with a clapper from the hash marks with less than 10 seconds to go in a regular season game.
This was Jake Guentzel simply putting that one away with a little authority considering Brock Nelson was right on his ass, and the Hurricanes had just come back from being down 3-0 in a playoff game. If you don't want Jake Guentzel to bury an empty netter on your ass to deliver that final dagger in game 2, then maybe the Islanders should have considered not blowing a 3-0 lead. Maybe they should have considered not thinking the game was over 5 minutes into the 2nd period.
I just don't understand what guys want to happen when they pull their goalie anymore. Do they expect teams to just stop trying to score? If you don't want them to throw another one up on the scoreboard against an empty net, then just admit defeat and keep your goalie in there for the final minute. But you can't have it both ways. The agreement you're operating under when you pull the goalie is that you're giving your team the best chance to score another goal while simultaneously taking away the most important player on the ice when it comes to keeping goals being scored against you. It's been that way for centuries. But now all of a sudden guys want to think it's disrespect to get scored on when your dumbass goalie is sitting there on the bench and off the ice. It's like giving out your bank account information hoping that someone out there will make a deposit for you, but then being flabbergasted when someone ends up using your information to make a withdrawal. It just doesn't make a lick of sense.
Moral of the story--don't blow a 3-0 lead in the playoffs. Seems like the more important unwritten rule to follow, personally.