Blowin' it

Potter asks whether there might be a situation, however inconceivable, wherein a team could take a dive in overtime for their overall benefit later in the series. I can't see it in any situation, especially when dealing with professionals filled with pride in themselves and with the game they play, a condition becoming sickenly uncommon in today's professional sporting environs.

However, I can make a case for a team taking a penalty deliberately late in the game to their advantage. Basketball does it already: a team might be up (or even down) a few points and, by fouling the opposition, they can forfeit a point or two in exchange for possession of the ball.

For a hockey team, the advantage wouldn't be so much with a change of possession but rather with taking time off the clock. However, the result could be equally beneficial.

Take the Flames-Ducks game last night. The Flames were up by two goals with a couple minutes left to play, and they take a penalty. The Ducks have a man advantage, yes, but the Flames now have the opportunity to ice the puck and force the Ducks to go all the way to their own end and then lug it up through the neutral zone, dump it in, and regain possession. The Flames would have no concerns about getting another face-off in their own zone right away, and 20 seconds or more have come off the clock before the Ducks would be able to get into scoring position.

Further to that is the consideration of the new NHL rules, where a team which ices the puck when at equal strength cannot change its players during the ensuing stoppage of play. The Flames could get the puck out of their zone and get some fresh lungs on the ice while they're at it. A bonus condition is that, if the Ducks pull their goalie (which they did), the Flames could take a shot at the empty net which wouldn't result in a stoppage of play if they missed.

In this situation, it didn't exactly work to the Flames favour as the Ducks scored a goal to bring them to within one with less than a minute to play. However, the player in the sin bin was Robyn Regher who, aside from Stephane Yelle, is the absolute last guy they'd want off the ice while ahead a goal or two. If someone like Chuck Kobasew or Craig MacDonald, neither of whom see a bevy of ice time on the PK were to rub out Selanne in the same illegal fashion, the result might have been different.

That being said, there is no reason why a coach of a team with a stifling penalty kill unit -- the Flames -- wouldn't be afraid to challenge a team with a so-so power play -- the Ducks -- when up at least a pair of goals in the last three minutes.

Eh?


(crossposted to BumfOnline)