Ah, the playoffs, where literally anything goes until someone gets upset. The Washington Capitals just beat the Montreal Canadiens in game 4 of the round 1 playoff series, securing a 5-2 win and now a 3-1 lead in the series, with the Canadiens eligible for elimination in their 5th game on Wednesday. While the Capitals certainly played well, with Tom Wilson making that game changing hit on Alexandre Carrier and Brandon Duhaime going on to score after that, there were some aspects of their game that Canadiens’ coach, Martin St. Louis found questionable.
In a post game interview following his team’s loss, Martin St. Louis said, “I’ll be careful with my words but it’s hard to watch some of these [penalty] calls. To me tonight, like one of the mandates was about embellishing tonight.” Refereeing issues have been a longstanding point of contention with the Habs the entire series, which came to a head after Wilson’s controversial hit.
Although it was entirely legal, the Canadiens thought otherwise; yet another in their long line of refereeing gripes. Jakub Dobes also echoed his coach’s words. “I don’t want to point fingers,” said Dobes. “I never, ever do that. As a hockey player, I’ve never ever done it. I don’t want to be specific about who could be better. I just hope we don’t get these referees in Washington, that’s it. I’m not going to point fingers”
On the latest episode of the
32 Thoughts podcast, Elliotte Friedman chimed in on the embellishment issue saying,
“It’s not just Washington, I see way too many people doing it way too many teams way too many series and I think referees should be tougher on it and I know some of them get nervous calling it in the moment because you don’t want to be wrong, but you know, I really do think in in some of these situations I don’t even think you should call like someone for a trip or a hold and a dive I think you’re just going to have to call the embellishment.” Friedman got a little technical there, referring to the difference between a dive and an embellishment, which is clarified in the NHL rulebook, that maybe both Tom Wilson and the refs need a refresher course on! And hey, why not us, while we’re at it.
Diving and embellishment, now that Martin St. Louis has called it out, will things change?
Considering round 1 of this particular playoff series is now being referred to by some fans online as the ‘Capital’s dive show,’ let’s dive into the meaning of it all. Even Elliotte Friedman called out the Caps’ diving, connecting it to a broader issue of diving in the playoffs. In fact a fan online commented on Wilson’s incessant diving saying, “Wilson dives all game and cellies an empty net. How many cross checks to the face or late hits before we get a call??”
Before the game both teams were warned about warm up altercations, post period interactions and embellishments, the last of which would constitute dives, and St. Louis certainly made his thoughts clear on the lack of enforcement on the embellishment front.
So, to be clear, a dive is when a player tries to draw action on an opponent despite no foul having occurred, while an embellishment is like an umbrella term for diving and a bunch of other things that essentially mean a player makes a foul look more serious than it was. Wilson seems to be an expert in the arena, much to the consternation of the opposition.
With the NHL itself having warned players against embellishments, alongside warm up interactions that the officials actually do take seriously, (vis a vis Cousins and Stolarz) Wilson and the Caps will probably not be able to get away with as many dives on Wednesday, but that still doesn’t give the Canadiens much space or time to make much of a comeback, but who knows what fate the Capital One Arena has in store?
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