Giving Steven Stamkos the room to operate on a 4-on-3 power play in overtime usually means you're about to watch Steven Stamkos end the game. The Carolina Hurricanes witnessed that on Saturday night, as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Canes on Stamkos's 47th goal of the season.
But should the Lightning have had a power play at all? Check out Brandon Sutter at 1:05 of overtime, leaping into Mathieu Garon as Steven Stamkos pushes him from behind.
The call wasn't goalie interference, nor should it have been considering Garon was practically at the blue line. It was roughing, and it's one of those situations where you'd love to hear from the referee after the game. Clearly, Stamkos is riding Sutter from behind. One assumes he's trying to leap over Garon to avoid a collision. But … he jumped right into a goalie in a prone position.
Is it possible that Sutter would have been better off just running Garon instead of jumping into him? And do you think this should have been a penalty?