It doesn't matter if the 6th man plays the puck or not. As long as the player is on the ice before the player coming off is within 5 feet, it is at the officials discretion though, whether or not a bench minor is assessed. So not every 6th man has to be called, it is at the officials discretion. If the 6th player does touch the puck, or is involved in the play, then a penalty should be called. Then a too many men on the ice would be called.

okay, so the official has discretion....

I guess they either missed the call completely or decided that the extra player was so far away from the play and had had no impact so far that they allowed him to skate off the ice without giving a penalty.

I like the call personally... too many men on the ice is a perfectly good call if the 6th man actually had influence over the play but in the case you're refering to I don't feel like it made any difference.

Originally posted by Elara

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And bulls*** you didn't insult anyone ziggy, I remember you and geeogree arguing during that series.

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There's a difference between arguing and insulting.


anyway, the refs always miss those calls. it happens a lot. You get caught up in the action and miss an extra player coming onto the ice. And if Detroit lost by 2 it probably didn't matter anyway

holy crap this is a good game going right now!!!!!


part way into the second and Pittsburgh and just gone ahead 3-2. I thought they were in trouble because of that early 2nd period goal but a short-handed goal by Staal and a nice 2 on 1 with Malkin and Crosby to take the lead.

Tons of energy in this game right now. And really it is the make or break game for Pittsburgh. They have to win this game or they stand almost no chance of winning the series....

[goes back to watching the game]

wow.... that was a bad game for the Wings. They just didn't have energy in the second and third periods. Big win for Pittsburgh. Series is tied up now.

Now it is a 3 game series.... the team with 2 more wins gets the cup.

Honestly, after watching the last 2 games I'm starting to believe that Pittsburgh could do it. If they can carry the confidence and momentum of these 2 wins over into game 5 I seriously think they could do it.

I think Zetterberg is tired.... playing defence as hard as he has on Crosby and Malkin is making his offence lack. Not that Detroit needs him to score goals in order to win but it definitely helps having him taking shots. And Hossa has been a non-factor. He's taking lots of shots but not making much of them. It looks like some of the new guys are doing a better job of scoring than the guys that are expected to score. Helm, Abeldecker both have 2 goals. Lidstrom, Hossa have none, Zetterberg has 1... it just doesn't look like a Detroit team that is playing properly.


And look who is STILL out.... Datsyuk. You guys kept saying it wouldn't be a factor but I think it is one of the biggest factors so far. That guy is one of the stars of the Detroit team. Hart trophy finalist.... and missing the first 4 games has allowed Pittsburgh to get the momentum in the series in their favour. These last 3 games (maybe 2) are going to be awesome!

So far, both of the Pens' win have been 4-2 and the Wings' wins have been 3-1. Weird...

anyway, I figured his absence would be a factor, at least on the road.

it had to be.... he's one of the best players in the league right now.

I think they're going to need him back if they are going to win 2 of the next 3.... I think pittsburgh has too much momentum and confidence going back to Detroit

Well, Detroit had momentum going into Pittsburgh too. But If he comes back, that will be a huge boost to Detroit. Overall, I actually have enjoyed this series

yeah, it has been really good.

And while I agree with you, I find that the team with home ice advantage usually loses game 3.... but game 5 is probably won more often if games 3 and 4 were won by the non-home ice advantage team....

I wonder if that made any sense

Yeah, it made sense. And I think in every non-sweep situation, that has happened

oh good....


either way the next 3 games are going to be intense.... I wonder what I'm doing Saturday night.... I should watch the game with someone other than my wife because she doesn't care about the games at all

Oh yeah, these next couple of games will be very interesting

Oh gods, game four was so AWESOME! I got to watch the game from outside on the Trib Tron... and I guess there were more people out there that night than they had ever had before. We had good seats, it was great!

I can't wait for the game tonight. If we play like we did on Thursday then we are set!

yeah, I really enjoyed game 4. I bet Detroit fans didn't like it though. Their team had very little energy for a lot of it.

The Pens however were everywhere on the ice. There were a lot of giveaways by Detroit and a lot of lazy plays and such. Although, not unlike the way the Pens played for parts of the first 2 games.

Either way I am hunkering down tonight to watch 2 playoff games! I'll watch the entire NHL game and then catch the end of the NBA game (which is the only important part of that game anyways).... and I'm set

wow... awesome start to the game so far...

amazing save by fleury on the zetterberg tip. Great energy.

Not really liking how few calls are being made. There is a LOT that is getting missed. I guess that is playoff/finals hockey.... just seems stupid to not call the sorts of things that have been getting called all year.... is it a hook or not? Did the rule change because it's the finals? I just don't like that.

[edit] I might as well delete the first 2 paragraphs and just use the last paragraph. Could this have been a more 1-sided game by the refs? The Red Wings get away with so much it makes me sick. They are the worst offenders for goalie interference and NEVER get called. Plus some of the calls that have been made were terrible. They're calling stupid penalties and missing ones that have actually affected plays. It's really frustrating to watch a game like this. Just watched Helm hit someone from behind into the boards... no call. If it was 2 months ago he would have gotten suspended for the same hit. [/edit]

Thank you! Oh my god, that game was so depressing! I mean, on top of the refs clearly favoring the Red Wings it seems that the Pens just were not trying at all. I mean, what the f*** happened? I wanted to cry, it was that painful to watch. They better get their s*** together for game 6 and I really think that those refs should be hit with a stick or something.

I will admit there was a certain point in the game where Pittsburgh was just frustrated and some of the calls were deserved (like the Crosby slash) but it seemed like there were several really weak calls made against Pittsburgh that really turned the game in Detroits favor.

It's just a really unfortunate way to have what might be the deciding game of the series.

Yeah. I mean, the few calls that were deserved were so easily avoidable and so immature! I can understand frustration but come on!

yeah, it was a tough game. Hopefully they can pull it together and get the win at home and force a game 7. At least if they can force a game 7 they have done better this year than they did last year. If nothing else they will have that to look back on. They gave it an even better effort...

okay.... Game 6 is about to start.... this is it.... either Pittsburgh wins and the series goes to 7 or they crumble under the pressure and lose the way they lost last year. Like I said before.... at least if they can go to game 7 they will have done better this year than last year. As hard as it would be to lose two years in a row at least they would not lose at home again. I just don't see them losing tonight.... I think they're going to be too desperate this game.... they'll fight harder than they ever have this year.

It's gonna be a good game regardless of who wins but hopefully it's not 1-sided again, even if it is in Pittsburghs favor.... I'd rather see them win 3-2 in overtime to force game 7 than to win a 5-0 blowout.