Shaw hit hot-button topic in Hawks-Coyotes series
In a series that already has enough defining moments to fill seven games, it probably should come as little surprise that Andrew Shaw was the man in the middle of one of the moments.
And that would be the feisty rookie’s collision behind the Phoenix net with Coyotes goalie Mike Smith.
It’s the hit that’s got everybody talking.
For instance, Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville, who didn’t like the call.
“I think he was trying to avoid contact,” Quenneville said of the play that earned Shaw a five-minute major for charging and a game misconduct. “We lost him (for the game). He was playing well, too. It was a tough call.”
Then there’s Phoenix coach Dave Tippett, who didn’t like the play.
“The league will look at that,” Tippett said. “Obviously that’s contact to the head, and it doesn’t matter if it’s a goaltender or a player. That’s blindside contact to the head. I’m sure the league will look at it.”
Indeed they will. Shaw is scheduled to have a hearing with the league Monday.
Shaw’s explanation to the NHL cops figures to be similar to the explanation he gave after the game.
“He went to play the puck and his stick came up toward my face and I was trying to get away from it and unfortunately we made a little contact,” Shaw said. “I did not try to hit him at all; I tried getting out of the way.
“Unfortunately I did make contact.”
Maybe that reasoning will work with the league. One thing’s for sure, though, no explanation from Shaw is going to be good enough for the Coyotes, who were still steaming after their 4-3 overtime loss Saturday that tied the Western Conference quarterfinal series at a game apiece.
“He hits a goalie in the head,” Coyotes captain Shane Doan told reporters after the game. “They want to get rid of blows to the head, period. Trust me, I know. It’s a blow to our goalie’s head, behind the net.
“I know the (general managers) have talked about how that’s something they want to make sure doesn’t ever get into the game, and we have to protect our goalie. Obviously that was a no-brainer.”
The question on many people’s minds after the game was not whether there was contact because there was.
The question is, did Smith embellish things a bit by spinning around, losing his gloves and stick, and falling to the ice, where he was attended to for a couple of minutes before thrilling the SRO crowd by getting up, putting on his mask and returning between the pipes?
“I didn’t know,” said Shaw, whose big hit on Radim Vrbata knocked the Coyotes’ leading scorer out of the game in the opening minutes. “I was just glad when he got up and he was OK.”
Smith didn’t speak to reporters after the game, but through the Coyotes PR staff he assured everyone he was indeed OK.
“I feel fine,” Smith said. “I’m 100 percent.”
A series that already was tasty enough got an extra dash of spice.
mspellman@dailyherald.com