Welcome to another edition of Three Majors and a Minor. This week we look at injuring your teammates, not being able to hold a lead, and not being able to follow simple rules. I also get a mention for willing a win into existence. Here we go!
Five minute major to Cal Clutterbuck.
New York Islanders forward Cal Clutterbuck injured his goaltender Semyon Varlamov before they clashed with the New York Rangers last Saturday. Clutterbuck was on the ice warming up when he put a high puck on net that caught Varlamov around the Collarbone. The goaltender immediately went down and had to be removed from the game before it even started to be replaced by Ilya Sorokin.
While not on purpose it is tradition that you keep pucks low during the pre-game warmup. Giving Clutterbuck the benefit of the doubt won’t cut it for Islanders fans though who witnessed their state rivals put them to the sword. A 5-0 trashing also had Coach Barry Trotz less than impressed telling the postgame media:
“Guys are not thinking. It wasn’t fair to Ilya, it wasn’t fair to Varly, the way the guys warmed him up. It started in warmup and it just sort of carried over through the whole game.”
Barry Trotz after his New York Islanders were trashed 5-0 by the New York Rangers
Five minute major to the LA Kings
Yes, a full team is taking a five-minute major. If you lose two 3-1 leads to the same team within two days of each other then you deserve it. That’s exactly what the LA Kings did.
It started on Thursday, February 14th when the Kings relinquished a 3-1 lead in the third period against the Minnesota Wild before losing in overtime. On Saturday, February 16th at Staples Center it was a case of Deja Vu as they again lost a 3-1 lead in the third. A goal from Minnesota defenseman Ryan Suter two seconds from the end of regulation forced overtime yet again. The Kings then choked with 11 seconds left in OT to go 0-2 on the season.
Five minute major to the Washington Capitals.
The 2018 Stanley Cup Champions were fined $100,000 after four players broke COVID protocol. Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Dmitry Orlov, and Ilya Samsonov spent time in each other’s hotel rooms despite regulations saying not to and did not wear masks. The four players will now have to isolate until the end of the month while Samsonov it seems has tested positive.
I get that it’s an unusual time but all the players were aware of the protocols before the season started. If you didn’t like it you had the option to not play. Now, not only are you putting your teammates at risk but also those who you are playing against. If more players test positive the Capitals may be forced to rearrange games like the Dallas Stars (who we mentioned in the last episode) and the Carolina Hurricanes.
And lastly, the two minute Minor goes to… me.
I’ve made the list for actively rooting for a Vegas Golden Knights win so I could take the lead in this week’s Fantasy head to head. As a Colorado Avalanche fan I am well aware that Vegas will be the biggest threat to our throne but after John Gibson put up a shutout against the Minnesota Wild on Monday, February 18th for the Anaheim Ducks I was within touching distance of my opponent. Therefore I did what I had to do and willed Vegas back from a 2-0 deficit against the Arizona Coyotes to win 4-2. All you Vegas fans can thank me later.
Thank you for reading another episode of Three Majors and a Minor. We’ll see you next week.
