I only saw the replays, but Smid went out of his way,a longs ways in fact, to get Nolan and enough time to take his helmet off.So that's 10 min misconduct,2 instigator and 2 instigator w/visor.Really no controversy there.leave the fighting to the pros and don't be a knob.
That's still not considered instigating, at least not in the past. Otherwise virtually every fight would have an instigator. It was reserved for guys who skated across the entire rink to start pounding on someone before they could even drop their gloves. Smid was less than 30' away, and Nolan dropped his gloves first. Why in the fuck should Smid remove his helmet, WHEN NOLAN HAS A FUCKING VISOR TOO?
"Oh yes, you're willing to fight? Excellent, you drop the gloves and jump me while I attempt to remove my helmet because I'm all chivalrous like that."
Applying the instigator rule in that instance was idiotic.
Regardless though, that wasn't the only bad or missed call. They were everywhere, all over the ice, in favor and against both teams. Smid's penalty for gloving the puck ahead was laughable, when 30 seconds later an LA defenseman caught the puck in mid air and held on to it for a solid second and a half while an Oiler forward skated by. If it was the NBA it would have been traveling. Smid's crosscheck penalty was pretty weak too, especially considering Nick Schultz had been cross checked at least as hard in the back at the LA blueline
after a fucking whistle10 feet in front of one of the refs just prior and no call was made. Not to mention that they called Smid's barely there crosscheck concurrently with the legitimate goalie interference call on Horcoff, giving LA a full 2 minute 5 on 3.
Half of the LA penalties were pretty bad as well, although the too many men call in overtime was pretty legitimate. The LA substitution player was 30' from the bench and played the puck while the player leaving the ice was still 10' from the bench. It was pretty blatant, so blatant in fact that the linesman called it instead of a ref as is normally the case.
It was one of the worst officiated games in recent NHL history, without a doubt. Both of those refs should be buried in the fucking minors. Barely more than half the game was played at even strength, and were it not for some incredible luck the refs would have singlehandedly decided the outcome of the game.
