DeBoer Plays Biased Treatment Card, Puts Target on McDavid Before Game 3

“Does anyone in this room think if Connor McDavid gets carried off the ice like that, it’s not a five-minute major? That’s my answer to your question…If that’s 97 carried off the ice in the same situation, I think we all know the answer to what that looks like for us.” That was all Dallas Stars head coach Peter DeBoer would say when asked about the slash by Darnell Nurse on Roope Hintz. Hintz didn’t return to the game and Nurse received a minor penalty for slashing after the officials reviewed the original call of a major.

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As Darren Dreger pointed out, Rule 61.3 explains why the Stars were unhappy with the call. That rule states a “a major penalty, at the discretion of the Referee based on the severity of the contact, shall be imposed on a player who slashes an opponent. When injury occurs, a major must be awarded.”

While Hintz was injured, officials looked at the play and ruled that the “severity of the contact” was insufficient to warrant more than a minor penalty.

Why Throw McDavid Under the Bus?

Stars fans are upset. Meanwhile, Oilers fans are arguing that DeBoer clearly hasn’t watched much Oilers hockey because those same fans know McDavid rarely gets the favorable calls from officials, he’s slashed and hooked all game long, and had he gone down in a similar situation, some belive he might have gotten a penalty for unsportsmanlike diving. That’s how little McDavid gets the benefit of the doubt.

But what DeBoer said might not have been about the call by the officials, or frankly, even how he really felt. Perhaps he’s simply planting a seed for Game 3, hoping, for some reason, that the officials will call the first infraction against Edmonton to “even things up.” It’s the game within the game and head coaches do it through media scrums all the time.

And, if that doesn’t work, he’s hinting to his team that they need to take a number.

The Stars Aren’t Going to Forget

As expected, Edmonton Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch refuted DeBoer’s ‘question’ that McDavid would get ‘special treatment. He said he believes the standard is higher when calls are made involving McDavid. Knoblauch noted that McDavid has drawn five penalties throughout the playoffs, whereas several players on the Stars roster have drawn five or more, “Which I find hard to believe,” said the coach.

Stars forward Mason Marchment was asked if the Nurse slash carries over to Game 3. He responded, “Yeah, for sure. A lot of that stuff, you just keep in the back of your mind, and if the opportunity presents itself then, you take your chance. We’ve got a long series here.”

The question will be, do the Stars target Nurse? Or, do they go after someone like McDavid? And, do the officials ensure that this series doesn’t get out of hand and that an attempt to injure is stopped well before it ever becomes a problem?

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