Two nights ago, the Toronto Maple Leafs lost to the Arizona Coyotes.
The Leafs went in to that game with a ton of momentum, having won four games in a row. The high-powered offence that fans have come to love was clicking after a 6-0 win over the Montreal Canadiens Saturday night; it only made sense that they’d destroy the lowly Coyotes at home.
Well, the Coyotes knew exactly how to combat that offence, and it was the same way that the Ottawa Senators did earlier this season: The Trap.
Now for those unfamiliar with how the trap works, it’s simple: the defending team (in this case the Coyotes) would have one forechecker playing the puck more aggressively. The remaining two forwards and a defenceman would line up around the red line to prevent the attacking team (the Leafs) from breaching centre ice. The final defenceman would hang back just inside the blueline, in the event that a puck carrier can get past the first four players.
The theory is simple: If you can’t get across centre ice, you can’t score. Players can’t stand playing against the trap because it’s suffocating, it’s boring, and it slows the pace of the game down. Fans hate it twice as much for the exact same reason.
Now some coaches choose play the trap because they’re fun-sucking troglodytes that would snatch a smile off a child for fun. Some coaches, like Coyotes head coach Rick Tocchet on this particular night, play the trap as a means of survival.
It doesn’t take an expert to see that Arizona is bad this year. They’ve been better lately, but even following a great offseason where they acquired a top centre (Derek Stepan), two top 4 defencemen (Jason Demers and Niklas Hjalmarsson) and a starting goalie (Antti Raanta), the team simply can’t put it all together and have limped into one of the worst starts in NHL history. You can dive into why if you want, but all I’ll say is that Brad Richardson isn’t a #2 centre and Zac Rinaldo isn’t a third line winger.
Tocchet is fully aware that his hapless Coyotes can’t compete with Auston and the Gang (I’m truly being objective about this, I promise), so what does he do? He stymies them. With a late lead, the team falls into the trap and does their best to ensure that one of the best forward groups in the league doesn’t even enter the offensive zone. And for the most part, it worked.
Because the Arizona Coyotes play the trap against the Toronto Maple Leafs, they’re doing their best to single-handedly ruin hockey.
Notice I said “for the most part”, though. When the Leafs did break through the trap and gain the zone, they got quality shots on Raanta. Then, with just a few minutes left in the game, Auston Matthews puts his team on his back and scores a beautiful goal on an individual effort to beat Raanta high blocker side.
… Or so we thought. This is where the referees do their part to single-handedly ruin hockey.
Now at first glance, the case can be made for interference. You can clearly see Zach Hyman’s stick thrusting forward into Raanta during the sequence, pushing him further into the net. Take another look at it though:
You can clearly see Coyotes forward Christian Fischer pushing Hyman towards Raanta. Hyman himself doesn’t actually motion his stick into Raanta’s chest; it’s Fischer pushing Hyman that causes his stick to almost spear Raanta.As the play develops, Hyman gets sandwiched between Fischer and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, giving him literally nowhere to go. By the letter of the law, that is not goaltender interference.
If that’s not enough, the second argument for interference on the play is that because of Hyman, Raanta can’t get back into position to make the save. Au contraire, mon ami. In the gif above (Thanks again, Jeff Veillette), you can see that not only does Raanta get in position, he has enough time to hug the post and adjust himself before the shot is snapped. It’s not his fault that Matthews is just that good.
Oh, and in case there wasn’t enough confusion, this play happened shortly thereafter:
Now I will give the referee the slightest benefit here: Jordan Martinook looks like he’s trying to get around Frederik Andersen, and not like he’s trying to take the Leafs netminder out.
BUT, we just witnessed a goal get called back for a borderline interference call. If we’re calling borderline interference calls now, why aren’t we calling this one? There’s a very real chance that Andersen gets hurt on that play, and luckily for the Leafs he didn’t.
The league put a premium on “actually calling the penalties” at the start of the season with slashing and faceoff violations. Instead of trying to call all the pentalties, maybe start by calling the right ones, Mr. Referee. You’re ruining hockey.
Open Ice Hits 
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