Refs Step In To Save Alex Pietrangelo's Life Before "Killer" Connor McDavid Could Put Him To Sleep
"Is Connor McDavid gonna have to smack a bitch?" - Connor McDavid
When it comes to playoff hockey and a 7-game series, pretty much anything goes. Your team might be getting their dicks kicked in, but it's still only game 4 and there's still plenty more hockey to be played. So just because your team was absolute dog shit one night doesn't mean you can't still go and send a message before heading into game 5. Which was what I'm assuming Alex Pietrangelo was trying to do here with this psychopath two-hand slash on Leon Draisaitl with less than 2 minutes left in the 3rd period.
It's late, he wasn't even particularly close to Leon when the puck left his stick, so he comes 10 feet across the ice just to deliver a two-handed hack to his forearm. As the late great Gordon Bombay once said…
It's a greasy move, no doubt about it. But that's just playoff hockey. Pietrangelo gets a major penalty for slashing, but I doubt he misses any time for the rest of this series because of it. Unless Draisaitl's arm was dangling in two separate pieces, Pietrangelo was never in danger of receiving a sussy there. He'll be back in the lineup for game 5. But he almost wasn't.
In fact, Alex Pietrangelo almost never played another hockey game for the rest of his life. Because had the refs not stepped in there, Connor McDavid would have ended his. Connor McDavid is a killer, and he's not playing around anymore. 97 jumped in there right away with no hesitation to stand up for his guy.
Sees the slash, hunts him down, refs immediately come in to save Pietrangelo's life. Connor McDavid was put on this earth to win a Stanley Cup. He knows his best chance of doing that relies heavily upon Leon Draisaitl. Now Alex Pietrangelo wants to cheap shot Leon with a two-handed hack across the arms and try to take him out of the series? Not on Killer Connor's watch. The last time McDavid got in a fight, he broke his hand because he punched the glass too hard in junior. Just imagine if that was Pietrangelo's face. Night night.
Sidenote: I know the refs have to step in there and make sure nothing happens to 97, but good on the stripes for stepping to the side on this one and letting the boys throw some bombs in the final minute of the game.
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Solid 40 second tilt that could have been stopped about 5 seconds in if the linesmen hated fun. But 83 stepped away and let the haymakers keep flying for another 30. Love to see that.