One thing no one was talking about was the holding penalty on Nick Canzanello that led to Rylan Schwartz's power-play goal in overtime. There are, of course, rules and fines about criticizing officiating, so coaches simply choose not to say anything at all. Sadly, for reporters and, more importantly, readers and fans, that means they won't talk about -- what last night, anyway -- was the most critical moment of the game.
Still, if you can read body language and tension, it was pretty easy to see how the MSU coaches and players felt about the penalty -- one of those how-do-you-make-that-call-at-that-time-of-the-game situations you often hear about in hockey. Canzanello stood up William Rapuzzi at the blue line in the middle of the rink and rode him a bit after the puck was sent deep, prompting the penalty call with 62 seconds remaining in OT.
Mavericks coach Troy Jutting pleaded with referee Marco Hunt in a short-but-heated exchange, to no avail, of course.
I thought Canzanello, a senior defenseman, was having one of his better games up to that point. For example, in the first period, he intercepted the puck in the neutral zone, carried it deep and passed across to Mike Louwerse, who tapped it just wide.
The Mavericks certainly had their chances to score in regulation, even with goalie Joe Howe playing a great game (MSU's Austin Lee also played his best game of the season), and as Jutting said afterward:
"(W)hen you get down to it, when you get 30 shots on net, you gotta find a way to put the puck in the net, so we don't put ourselves in that situation."
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