Blackhawks lose it on brink of elimination

In case you didn’t watch the game last night or didn’t see anything about it yet this morning,  a couple of Blackhawks players may have lost their minds in last night’s game four loss to the Blues to go down 3-1 in the opening round series.

After being ran into in the crease, Corey Crawford started a fight. With two minutes left, Andrew Shaw took an unnecessary roughing minor, and when he came out of the box just before the game was officially over, he started fighting everyone after the horn blew.

At the time of Crawford’s brawl, the Blackhawks were up 2-1 as the Blues were making a push to tie the game in the second period. A hard drive to the net by Robby Fabbri that knocked Crow in the head didn’t sit well with the goaltender.

CROW MAD pic.twitter.com/BsRi89sx3R

— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) April 20, 2016

As you can see, Toews slightly shoved Fabbri from behind as a normal hockey play and Crow just happened to be there with his head down. There’s no reasonable way Crow could’ve known, and he was livid for getting hit in the head.

I’m not necessarily condoning this, but Crawford wasn’t taking any crap from the Blues, and it seemed to motivate the Blackhawks right away as they scored to take the two-goal advantage.

That was great and all that…until the Blues took a 4-2 lead after Crawford surrendered three straight goals in about 13 minutes.

So then there’s this. With 2:04 remaining in the third period, Shaw took a roughing minor after his hit after the play was dead. He proceeded to do what he did.

Shaw also clearly yelled gay slurs at the ref in the box. Nice. pic.twitter.com/FqV3cGdsh4

— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) April 20, 2016

Back in December, Sacramento Kings player Rajon Rondo was suspended one game by the NBA for saying a gay slur at an official.

Just a couple weeks ago, the Blackhawks partnered with You Can Play, which is an organization dedicated to removing homophobia in sports. Because of how much airtime these broadcasts gave Shaw during his “rant,” expect the NHL to come down harder than what the NBA did on Rondo.

The NHL and the Blackhawks should not take to this lightly. I wouldn’t be surprised for the team to take action before the league does, but don’t expect that to happen.

Shaw is a restricted free agent at the end of the season, so it’ll be interesting to see how much of a factor this plays into the Blackhawks re-signing the 24-year old.

*Featured image is courtesy of TheScore.com

Cody Wainscott

Hey everyone!

Currently I’m an MBA student and Graduate Assistant for Sports Information at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Mo. I’m an avid sports fan (Cubs, Bears, Hawks, Bulls, Kansas basketball) and I enjoy writing about sports. When I have spare time, I also like to write fiction or poetry. I’m a horror film enthusiast, and can binge-watch any TV show faster than you.

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