You don’t do Steven Stamkos favors.
Conventional wisdom states you do everything possible to make life miserable for the Tampa Bay Lightning’s standout center and pray it’s enough to keep him from burying you alive.
The Montreal Canadiens did not do this. Instead, they passed Stamkos the puck and dared him to make a move, which went about as well as you’d imagine.
Deadspin’s Kevin Draper spotted footage of an ugly brain fart engineered by Max Pacioretty in the first period Monday night.
The Canadiens winger corralled a pass near center ice and—presumably, hoping to set up an attack—dropped the puck back to a defenseman. This defenseman looked a lot like Steven Stamkos, however, and he gratefully received the gift and ripped off a scarily accurate slap shot for Tampa Bay’s second goal of the game.
This is not offside, according to Rule 83.1 of the NHL Officials Association rulebook:
If a player legally car ...
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Article written by Dan Carson