You Be the Judge: Did Downie Clip Price?

In the first period of last night's game, as Montreal goalie Carey Price went behind the net to play a puck that was just on the border of the trapezoid, Flyer Steve Downie approached to try to gain possession. He passed by Price and was hit into the boards by a Canadiens defender, and was promptly met with some pushing and punching by multiple players, as was Derian Hatcher, who came to his aid. On the boxscore, you'll see matching minors for Downie and Hatch for roughing, as well as the Habs' Lapierre and Komisarek for the same infraction, but you'll also see that Downie was assessed a tripping call.

Did he deserve it, or did Price take a dive (or, the NHL ref special: both)? I was at the game and only saw a few replays, and what happened afterward was just a jumbled mess from our vantage. Commenters in the previous threads were divided, so here's a video of the incident, with a slightly editorialized soundtrack. The roughing that ensued (not shown in video) was Montreal's reaction to Downie supposedly tripping their goalie, which may not have even happened, and they got a powerplay to boot. Another video with more angles and the aftermath, after the jump (h/t yellowbird).

Comments

[yellowbird]

dominic hasek would be proud

[Brett]

Greg Louganis has nothing on this guy

[enrico]

I thought he clipped him.

[yellowbird]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Vj7zftEDVU&eurl=http://www.the700level.com/2008/04/you-be-the-judg.html

watch that vid--plenty of other angles--and you can see price rip his own mask off--dead giveaway of a flop.

and how does downie get a 2 min for roughing when hes jumped by 2 guys?

[Dan]

The two Canadiens should have received double minors for roughing. It was clear they were trying to beat the stuffing out of Downie; in a perfect world, one would have been tossed (with a nod to the old third-man-in rule).

Downie did not clip Price. I watched the replay on Versus over and over, and he didn't touch him. Here's your proof: Price is still standing as Downie moves to his left, THEN he slips and falls. Now, when the play occurs that quickly not everyone's gonna see it the same way, so I can't dispute the call too much. But the two chickenshit Canadiens should have gotten something. That was the blown call.

[johndewar]

It may or may not have been a tripping penalty, but Price DEFINITELY dove. Ripping off of his own mask was a nice touch.

There certainly should not have been a power play to result from this play.

[adam]

It cannot be said enough how terrible the refs are and how biased they are against the flyers. were there a few missed called against the flyers in the caps series? sure, but those did not make up for all the calls against the flyers. teams can do whatever dirty crap they want to the flyers and get no calls but the moment the flyers do a thing, they get penalties. how montreal got a power play after that was atrocious. at worst it should have been even with downie getting the tripping call. but then he was pillaged by two guys. he may have hit the back of price's leg but he did not cause what then transpired (i.e. the flop and ripping off his own mask).

[digi]

Steve Downie is the reason puppies get cancer.

The internets told me so.

[digi]

I forgot to mention that Downie has a ton of potential to be an impact forward who plays with an edge, and not just a pest.

But he must must MUST work on his skating.

[Tartan69]

The close-up view on Price's skate that THEY SHOWED IN THE REPLAY ON THE JUMBOTRON AT THE WACHOVIA CENTER clearly showed he clipped his leg. I thought that was the lone good call the refs made all night (and that includes the 6-men-on-the-ice makeup call at the end of the game).

The bullshit part of the Downie incident wasn't that he got 2 for tripping and 2 for roughing, it was that the Habs didn't get a 2nd man in penalty assessed. Downie gets jumped in the scrum and it's clearly 2 on 1 against him. The fact that only one of those guys went to the box for only 2 minutes was the problem.

[Tartan69]

At 3:00 on the second video, look at how Price's leg moves during the slow-mo of Downie's stick coming towards him. An obvious slew-foot. You can't do that to a goalie.

The Hatcher DDT on their guy afterwards makes it all the worthwhile though.

[NastyEmu]

Downie clearly trips him, but Price definitely did an acting job. There's no reason for his other leg to go flying up in the air.

[MAK]

If anyone is interested, I have 2 tix to the Phils game tonight. Sect. 136, row 22. Hammels is on the hill. $37 face, will take less. Email me if interested:

marckriss@yahoo.com

Thanks-

Go Flyers...and Phils. That call was cheap.

[johndewar]

That announcer in the 2nd video sounds like a complete nancy boy. "Dangerous play by Downie". Give me a break.

You gotta think Carey Price has been on skates since he was like 2. To be a goaltender in the NHL, you've got to be real solid on your skates. While that announcer referred to that play as a slew foot, there is no way a little tick on the skate like should have sent him flying like it did.

That is, unless, he embellished it. Which he did.

[JimMc]

There's a good close up of Price's left leg where you see him make contact, and his leg moves slightly. So yes, contact was made. But Price ABSOLUTELY dove once he felt contact. You can see a slight delay in the slow mo, from the leg moving to the left a bit from the contact, then it stops, then the dramatics.

I agree with the previous posters, the ripping off his own mask was a nice touch. It was all in one fluid motion. Now we know what the Canadiens do during closed practices: perfecting the flop.

Wonder if Crosby teaches it, or just has an advanced degree??? 8-)

[Tartan69]

FWIW, I don't disagree with the other posters that Price embellished the trip. Diving has been a SERIOUS problem in the entire Eastern Conference this year (yes I'm including you, #48).

[jd]

@tartan:

i thought a slew foot doesn't involve the stick. it's more like kicking a person's skate out from behind with yours.

downie touched him, but come on....

[sean]

definitely clipped him

[Walklett]

Versus showed a super slow motion replay of the incident. SLIGHT contact was made, but there was a good second or two delay before Price flopped. He was not clipped as others have suggested.

[The Sicilian]

Philly has more queers that are male than San fransisco, and the Flyers have a team full of them. When we win game four, we are hauling the Rocky Balboa Statue with us, he,s straight and is ashamed of your queer ghetto city.

[Teacher]

Habs inside/out agrees with Sicilian, an offer you cant refuse. Been to Montreal lately, come here and bring it. When we get a little more size, we,ll beat your last Cup 1975 team up, than pillage your town.

[Ed]

Making fun of Philadelphia? You live in fucking Canada, enough said. What are you gonna do, give Rocky to the Queen? And yeah there are alot of gay guys in Philadelphia, so I hope when you come to pillage us (talk about gay) you get fucked in the ass.

[El Ricko]

Price went down easier than some poutine-slurping slut at Club Super Sexe. He'd be ashamed of himself if he didn't need the money for crack.

[seb]

If you make aggressive goalie intimidation part of your game plan, expect the other team to adjust and take advantage of it.