Boston Bruins: Won’t someone think of the NHL rulebook?

It’s certainly been a ‘normal one’ for National Hockey League (NHL) referees this postseason, especially for those unfortunate few assigned to officiate the Boston Bruins’ past two playoff series against the Columbus Blue Jackets and Toronto Maple Leafs.

It seems as though the quota for controversial officiating decisions has risen significantly – hardly a game goes by in any series where the referees don’t make a much-maligned choice. But the Boston Bruins have been intimately involved with several of these decisions.

Someone’s gotta ask this question. There’s no avoiding it. Have the Bruins been unfairly targeted by the referees this postseason?

In my laughably unqualified opinion, the answer is a resounding no. If anything, everyone is getting shorted by the ridiculous decisions that the refs have been making.

The Vegas Golden Knights would like a word with me for even suggesting that possibility.

But let’s talk Bruins.

We’ve already reported Charlie McAvoy‘s one-game suspension for his hit to the head on Jackets winger Josh Anderson and worried about who will replace him in Game 1 against everyone expect Don Cherry’s favorite bunch of jerks.

Having McAvoy missing on the blue line tonight is less than ideal.

The hit was initially deemed a minor penalty by the officiating staff at the game, but sure enough McAvoy got a call from the Department of Player Safety and was given further punishment.

As ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski reports, this is McAvoy’s first major disciplinary follow-up after a game.

Was his punishment fair? Absolutely.

Let’s roll the tape.

Anderson is carrying the puck up the boards. McAvoy moves in, and his shoulder makes contact with Anderson’s jaw. Anderson’s knocked back and falls down, his body twisting after a minor collision with Boston Bruins captain, Zdeno Chara after the check.

Here’s another look:

This is not good, folks. Even if Anderson was able to get up and joke around with McAvoy in the handshake line later that night, there’s no denying how dangerous that hit was.

Condemnation of both McAvoy and the refs’ decision to classify the hit as a two-minute minor rapidly stoked the ire of both fans and reporters across the league.

When consulting the rule book on hits to the head, we can see a rather puzzling thing; the ruling for these hits seem rather arbitrary.

There aren’t ‘provisions’ for a major or game misconduct penalty on an illegal check to the head. The punishment goes from minor to match penalty, and match penalty is completely dependent on whether the referees see that there was bad intent behind the hit.

The Department of Player Safety agreed that McAvoy lacked bad intent, but made their suspension call based on Anderson’s head being ‘‘the main point of contact.’

McAvoy, for his part, accepted the consequences but maintained that he meant no ill will on the hit, as the Boston Herald reported:

"“It was tough and I was just trying to make a hockey play and it was just a little bit unfortunate. I mean, I was just trying to play the game and it happened and I have to serve it. I respect the process and I was glad that I was able to say my piece and to be able to defend myself. But all things together, I’m not a very good lawyer.” – Charlie McAvoy (Boston Herald)"

Well, I guess McAvoy won’t be quitting his day job anytime soon, which is pretty good for us Bruins fans.

Let’s face it, the Boston Bruins got lucky here. While the Blue Jackets might not have capitalized on the minor against McAvoy, they might have struck gold on a five-minute major and the game could have ended completely differently.

But it didn’t. The game ended how it ended, a 3-0 victory for Boston and a chance at the Stanley Cup. The Boston Bruins are touted as favorites to win it all, which is cool and fun if you ask me.

“But what about Toronto? What about that Hyman trip in Game 5 against Toronto? What about that overturned Kuraly goal in Game 6 against the Jackets?” you may reasonably ask.

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Zach Hyman’s playing golf right now, my dudes, and Sean Kuraly’s fine form has him in the Eastern Conference Final.

The no-calls hurt. They can drastically affect the outcomes of crucial games.

But what one has to look at is the whole picture of a game here: sometimes a play doesn’t go your way, but barring a last-second regulation goal or an overtime stinker, there are still chances to bury that.

The overturned Kuraly goal was pretty unfortunate, yeah, but the Boston Bruins won that game because they fought to come back from that overturned goal.

And let’s look at tonight’s game, the opening one of the Eastern Conference Final against Carolina. Bruins fans were terribly upset about some uncalled slew footing and other assorted shenanigans coming from the Hurricanes.

But then Dougie Hamilton got called off for a dubious roughing call, and Patrice Bergeron gave TD Garden and all Bruins fans alike, something to cheer about.

With NHL officiating being what it is, we are all winners – and all losers.