Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca. Hi Kerry, In the Boston-Buffalo game on Wednesday night in the second period, Sabres defenceman Tyler Myers slashes Bruins forward Brad Marchand and then punches him in the head! How and why does Marchand get the penalty, with no call on Myers? He then scores a go-ahead goal! My question would be - does a supervising official between periods give the refs the talking down a player would get from his coach? This call could cost a team two points on very questionable officiating! Thanks,Ken MacAskill Ken: Both you and broadcast analyst Joe Micheletti made the correct call on this play. At the very least the Bruins and Sabres should have been playing four men aside as a result of the altercation between Tyler Myers and Brad Marchand. In a perfect world, Myers deserved an extra minor penalty as the aggressor in this incident following his slash and punch at Marchand. You asked how and why, only Brad Marchand received the penalty on this play. The trailing referee is responsible for all players behind the Sabres blue line. As the Sabres went on the attack from their end zone, Marchand cut across the ice toward his bench for a line change and in doing so skated directly in front of Myers. The altercation began when Marchand dropped his hip toward Myers who responded with a cross-check shove, a slash by each player and then the Myers punch. At this point play was stopped to assess a penalty. The camera picked up the trailing referee with his arm raised and approaching the two players on an angle back from the neutral zone toward Tyler Myers and Brad Marchand. From the referees angle of return it is apparent to me that he had vacated the Sabres end zone prior to players clearing that zone and failed to recognize and observe the hot spot between Marchand and Myers. I dont believe the ref saw the start of the altercation but picked it up when Brad Marchand jammed his stick into Myers midsection. He therefore deemed Marchand to be the instigator of the scrum. The easy call should have been to penalize both players for their actions. Unfortunately that didnt take place and resulted in a Tyler Myers power-play goal. Officiating managers (supervisors) very seldom enter the officials room between periods unless something extremely serious has gone afoul. Instead, the manager will review his observations and game report with the officials at the conclusion of the game. In certain cases, depending upon travel schedules or a perceived need, a follow-up telephone call or even breakfast meeting might take place with an official. Typically though any instruction/coaching will take place in the officials dressing room after the game. There was a time when supervisors entered the room between periods but team management objected to this practice when they felt the officials approach to the game changed to drastically following between period instructions. I dont agree with this practice in principle, but whenever the conversation does take place the supervisors proper approach and coaching techniques are vital in advancing the officials learning curve. When I observe a Division I College game for my former colleague and referee-in-chief of the ECAC Paul Stewart, I always visit the officials room between periods; if for no other reason but to be supportive and available should they have any questions. My approach is always to be positive and point out the good things they did but also to make them aware of any potential hot spots that might develop in addition to any positioning issues I feel the need to address. The game can certainly look different from the press box or the television monitor than it does at ice level. In a flash from the past, when I first signed a contract with the NHL there was a different and much more aggressive approach taken by the supervisors of that day which could be very intimidating for an official; especially a young one. Team general managers were not fined for approaching the officials room and shouting matches often took place in the hall outside the refs room. Supervisors were subjected to angry rants from team personnel in the press box which could result in a between period visit to the officials room by a supervisor. I can tell you there were trash cans kicked around the officials room and rolled up programs thrown at the wall in some of these "coaching" sessions. As you can imagine they werent very productive from a teaching perspective but could have a profound effect on how the next period was officiated! In todays fast paced game the two referee two linesman system is mandatory. An influx of younger officials has been hired to the staff when the veterans retire. Enhanced coaching and mentoring techniques are required to quicken the learning curve that takes place in addition to holding all the officials accountable to the expected standard. This is a work in progress. Cheap Sammy Sosa Jersey . According to TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger, the Maple Leafs have trade offers on the table for the 26-year-old, but none have been deemed acceptable by the team. Cheap Ron Santo Jersey . It will mark the 22nd time the tournament has been held in this country and fourth in Atlanta Canada but will make its first appearance ever in played Nova Scotia. http://www.cheapcubsjerseysauthentic.com...rk-grace-jersey. The government says top golfers are expected to compete in the PGA Tour event at the Ashburn Golf Club in the suburb of Fall River from July 3-6 and again next year. Cheap Greg Maddux Jersey . - On the night Dirk Nowitzki overtook Dominique Wilkins on the career scoring list, Brandan Wright was a human highlight film all by himself. Cheap Andre Dawson Jersey . An in-person hearing allows for Garbutt to be suspended for five games or longer as per the leagues Collective Bargaining Agreement. Garbutt delivered a high hit to Penner in the second period of Sundays game.PITTSBURGH, Pa. - Dont worry, Kris Letang insists. The heat is coming. Sure, the Pittsburgh Penguins defenceman admits the New York Rangers dont invite quite the same animosity inside his teams locker room as the Philadelphia Flyers. The Rangers ended any shot of that tantalizing matchup when they beat the Flyers in seven games to set up a showdown with Pittsburgh in the Eastern Conference semifinals starting Friday. That doesnt mean Letang expects the next two weeks to be devoid of drama. Far from it. "Im pretty sure the intensity will get really high at one point when we start," Letang said. "The emotion is always going to be part of the game and were going to have to control it the best we can." Its an internal battle the Penguins won during a taut first-round series against Columbus. Expected to send the inexperienced Blue Jackets home without much effort, Pittsburgh needed six trying games to advance. The way the Penguins figure it, thats a good thing. Forced to respond to adversity, they played what coach Dan Bylsma called their best 120 minutes this season to avoid the upset. "We keep coming and we keep coming, playing forward and playing in the offensive zone and grinding teams down with that play with that speed and quickness," Bylsma said. "Games 5 and 6 were our best at playing that way." The Penguins will need to do it four more times if they want to advance to the Eastern Conference finals for the second straight year. They split their four regular-season meetings with New York, all of them coming before the Olympic break. The Rangers hardly look like the team that was still struggling to find an identity when they last faced Pittsburgh in early February. Pittsburgh is no longer the patched-together unit that cruised to the Metropolitan Division title despite having stars Letang, Evgeni Malkin, Paul Martin and James Neal miss large chunks of the season due to injury. The Penguins are healthy. New York is hot. Five things to look for heading into Game 1. SLUMPING STARS: Pittsburgh captain and likely NHL MVP Sidney Crosby hasnt scored a goal in his past 10 playoff games. New York forward Rick Nash has just one in 19 post-season contests wearing a Rangers sweater. Whichever sttreak ends first could swing the balance of the series.dddddddddddd Crosby had six assists against the Blue Jackets, including one to Malkin in the first period of Game 6 in Columbus that gave the Penguins a 2-0 lead. Crosby knows he needs to take more chances. So does Nash, who can live with the drought as long as the Rangers keep it going. "Thats all that matters," Nash said. "Im going to try to keep getting my game going." LUNDQVIST VS. FLEURY: New Yorks Henrik Lundqvist and Pittsburghs Marc-Andre Fleury are the two winningest goaltenders in the regular season over the past five years, combining for 334 victories. Yet Lundqvist has yet to lift the Rangers past the conference finals while Fleury has struggled in the playoffs since helping the Penguins win the Stanley Cup in 2009. Both had their wayward moments in the first round. Both responded with brilliant play. Whoever gets hot — and stays hot — will give his team the upper hand. POWERLESS POWER PLAY: The Rangers went just 3 for 29 on the power play against Philadelphia, ending the series by failing to score 21 straight times with the man advantage. Not exactly the recipe to hang with the Penguins, who had the NHLs best power play during the regular season and was a solid 4 for 15 against the Blue Jackets while adding a pair of short-handed goals in the process. GENOS BACK: Like Crosby, Malkin was in the midst of a lengthy goal drought before coming up with his second career playoff hat trick in the clincher against the Blue Jackets. The rust that came with missing the final three weeks of the regular season appeared to vanish as he lit up Columbus goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky in Game 6. Playing alongside Crosby at times to try to shake loose the cobwebs, Malkin got hot. Expect to see the two MVPs on the ice frequently against New York. NEW YORK MINUTE: Game 1 marks the middle of a busy stretch in which the Rangers will play five times in seven days. Thats fine by them considering it beats the alternative of watching from home. "Now were in the middle of it and were in the battle," New York forward Brad Richards said. "This is when it gets real fun." ___ AP Sports Writer Ira Podell in New York contributed to this report. 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