Diving leads to Hurricanes' double overtime loss to Rangers in Game 2, Ironic, isn't it, after how Hurricanes played against the Islanders in Round 1.
The Carolina Hurricanes and the New York Rangers went to war on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden.
With the game deadlocked at 3-3 in the second overtime frame, Rangers forward Vincent Trocheck got pushed by Hurricanes defenseman and former Ranger Brady Skjei.
The referee deemed it a cross-check, but at the very least, the play should have resulted in Trocheck being called for embellishment or no call at all.
Also, it wasn't much of a cross-check anyway:
The game was over 47 seconds later, as Trocheck, who likely should have been in the box, potted the game-winning power-play goal 47 seconds later:
There were a few other instances where Rangers went down easily, like when Rangers netminder Igor Shesterkin, who did get interfered with by Andrei Svechnikov, forced himself to go flying and is lucky he didn't injure himself:
Then, later in the period, Adam Fox hit the ice after Guentzel punched him, a penalty no doubt:
After the game, Hurricanes forward Jordan Staal was asked if he thought the Rangers were going down a little too easy this series.
Staal said what he said without saying much at all.
Hurricanes fans weren't too happy, either, as one would expect.
Here's one more:
The Hurricanes may have had a gripe about that Trocheck call and some other events in this series.
Unfortunately for them, a call was made, and their penalty kill failed to come up large. Now, they're in a rather tough spot heading back to Raleigh.
The Hurricanes and their fans are getting a taste of their own medicine after what transpired in their series against the New York Islanders.
Right off the bat in Game One, Islanders captain Anders Lee was called for holding after Skjei hit the ice like he the toys in “Toy Story” when someone yelled, “Andy’s coming!”:
"I didn't even feel him, to be honest. Next thing I know...I'm just trying to get body position, and I'm going to the box. I talked to the ref about it. We had a conversation, and it was settled," Islanders captain Anders Lee said.
Later in that game, Islanders forward Kyle Palmieri slashed the back of Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin – a sure penalty – but the reaction from Slavin should have earned him a trip to the sin bin as well.
“I'm sure you can figure out how I feel about it. I won't make a comment on it."
In Game Two, Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech was sent to the box for tripping Hurricanes forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi, but it was clear that he went down on his own.
The list goes on and on as the series goes on and on.
But the Islanders didn't lose their series against the Hurricanes because the Hurricanes went down with ease.
And it's also not as if the Islanders didn't go down easy at times, too. It just seemed like the Hurricanes did -- as they should with how bad the Islanders' penalty kill was -- rather often.
The Islanders lost the series because they went 3-for-11 on the power play, allowing the Hurricanes to score five power-play goals on 15 chances.
The Hurricanes' power play against the Rangers is currently 0-for-10, and they've allowed four power-play goals on nine tries, and that's why they're down in the series.