Brady Tkachuk speared Jordan Martinook Thursday night, and somehow walked away with two minutes. A major penalty like that normally means an ejection and a hearing.
This one didn't. After the review, the officials came back with a minor for interference. That's a ruling that's going to be debated all weekend.
A spear is a spear. It's one of the most frowned-upon infractions in the rulebook. Getting two minutes for it is the kind of break you don't see often in a playoff game.
The Senators captain has been unraveling all night. Earlier, Tkachuk slammed the bench door in a rage after fans booed Ottawa during a miserable 5-on-3 power play.
That's a captain losing his cool in front of his own crowd. It's the worst possible moment to start feeding the story with visuals like that.
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Travis Green needs his captain to lead, not spiral
Tkachuk is still pointless through 3 playoff games. No goals. No assists. A minus-2 rating. That's the frustration powering every one of these moments.
Being the captain is the hardest job on the ice when things go sideways. You're supposed to contain the emotion and set the example. The spear on Martinook is the opposite of that.
Martinook, the 33-year-old Hurricanes veteran, has been playing the pest card perfectly. He already has a game-winning goal in this series and knows exactly how to pull a star off his game.
Is this the captain Ottawa signed up for at $8.2 million? When he's scoring, yes. When he's spearing opponents and slamming doors, no. That's a line his team needs him to walk better.
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Rod Brind'Amour's group is winning these mental games hand over fist. They've held Tkachuk to zero points across the series and made him take bad penalties on top of it.
Carolina finished with 113 points and a plus-56 goal differential. This isn't a team that gets flustered by a frustrated superstar. They feed off it.
The bigger question for Ottawa isn't the penalty. It's whether the captain can pull himself together fast enough to save a series slipping away from his feet.
Should Brady Tkachuk have received a major penalty for the spear on Jordan Martinook?
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