Shanahan Dragging His Feet on Suspensions for Pen-goons

I think we all remember last Sunday, the Flyers vs. the Pen-goons, we remember the fights and the dirty play by the Pen-goons.  Questions remain why two days later, the suspension dictator Shanahan has only suspended one player, Adams (Pen-goons) for game 4 and fined the Pen-goons coach $10,000.  These were automatic because Adams started a fight in the last 5 minutes of a game, and if that happens the coach of the team is automatically fined $10,000.  Why Neal and Asham have not been suspended is preposterous.

Let's look at Neal's case first, Neal left his feet and hit a defensive-less player, incident number one.  He then hit another Flyers player in the head, incident number two.  Neal is not a first time offender, he was fined $2,500 for a high stick earlier in the season.  $2,500 might not sound like much, but legally under the collective bargaining agreement it is the most that the NHL can fine a player.  So you have, two incidents, a non-first time offender, if he is not suspended for at least two games, its a joke.

This is the video from incident #1 as you can see the Flyers' player, Couturier is not even playing the puck and is leveled.  The play was not penalized, even though its classic interference, and you could even make a case for a charging call because Neal left his feet.  The video also shows incident #2.  Neal's play is definitely worthy of a multiple game suspension.

Neal's teammate Asham, cross checked Schenn in the throat area after Schenn made a hit along the boards on a Pen-goons player.  Asham not only cross checked Schenn, he decided to punch him again after the violent cross check.  Now, Asham whom already has a laundry list of questionable plays that have led to previous suspensions, clearly was out of line here.  If I was Shanahan, I am going 4 games, for a check to the head area, and for the extra punch with Schenn already out on the ice.

Here is the video of the Asham hit and the extra punch on the back of Schenn's head.  You can hear the NBC announcer say that Schenn's hit was clean.  That was definitely a cheap shot by Asham, and then for some reason he thinks that the cross check was not enough and hits Schenn in the back of the head.  This crossed so many lines, this was definitely not a hockey play.  There was a clear intent to injure here, that's why 4 games is what I would advise Shanahan to suspend Asham.

Let's talk about Cindy Crosby for a second, he started a fight with Giroux for Crybaby incident #1.  He takes 3 or 4 extra wacks at the Flyers goal, which is a violation of an unwritten rule, that you do not wack the goalie's glove when he is holding the puck (Crybaby incident #2).  He knocks Voracek's glove away from him when Jacob tries to pick it up (Crybaby incident #3).  Both incident #2 and incident #3 started scrums on the ice.  He started the fight with Hartnell where Adams came in at the end and pulled Hartnell's hair (Crybaby incident #4).  So, he pretty much started at least 4 different fights, but only fought one.

This is Crybaby incident #4.  Clearly, you can see that Crosby was at the beginning fighting Hartnell, and like the coward he is, he could not finish the fight.  He needed to summon one of his goons (Adams) to try to finish the job for him.  Given, Cindy Crosby's actions for the entire game, I would suspend Cindy for Game 4.  He was an instigator on numerous fights, and you know what if the NHL wants this to stop, they really need to suspend players for playing like Cindy was playing.

I am not really sure why the NHL and Shanahan are dragging their feet on these suspensions because they are clearly suspension worthy.  I am not sure why the Pen-goons have given into playing like goons, they have a good team when they are focus.  Clearly, they are not focused anymore.  The Flyers really have had to play a game of self defense in this series.  You cannot fault the Flyers for fighting back, because the Pen-goons have lost their heads.  Shanahan needs to wake up and start suspending players the day after and not waiting because it might look good.

Shanahan with a laundry list of penalties like this you cannot tell me two days later you can only come up with one suspension so far:

Game 3 Penalty Summary:

1st Period
2:39 Pittsburgh roughing - 2 min D. Engelland
2:39 Philadelphia roughing - 2 min Z. Rinaldo
5:14 Philadelphia high-sticking - 2 min J. Voracek
6:44 Pittsburgh cross checking - 2 min M. Niskanen
6:44 Pittsburgh roughing - 2 min M. Niskanen
6:44 Philadelphia roughing - 2 min C. Giroux
7:24 Pittsburgh cross checking - 2 min K. Letang
12:02 Pittsburgh roughing - 2 min S. Sullivan
12:02 Philadelphia roughing - 2 min J. Voracek
12:02 Pittsburgh fighting - 5 min K. Letang
12:02 Pittsburgh game misconduct - 10 min K. Letang
12:02 Philadelphia slashing - 2 min K. Timonen
12:02 Philadelphia fighting - 5 min K. Timonen
12:02 Philadelphia game misconduct - 10 min K. Timonen
12:02 Philadelphia fighting - 5 min C. Giroux
12:02 Pittsburgh fighting - 5 min S. Crosby
14:15 Pittsburgh match penalty - 10 min A. Asham
14:15 Philadelphia charging - 2 min B. Schenn

2nd Period
0:35 Pittsburgh hooking - 2 min J. Staal
9:13 Philadelphia kneeing - 2 min N. Grossmann
12:30 Pittsburgh tripping - 2 min C. Kunitz
17:22 Pittsburgh slashing - 2 min C. Kunitz

3rd Period
15:18 Pittsburgh charging - 2 min J. Neal
15:18 Pittsburgh roughing - 2 min C. Kunitz
15:18 Philadelphia roughing - 2 min J. Voracek
15:18 Pittsburgh misconduct - 10 min D. Engelland
15:18 Philadelphia roughing - 2 min W. Simmonds
15:18 Philadelphia misconduct - 10 min W. Simmonds
15:18 Philadelphia roughing - 2 min S. Hartnell
15:18 Philadelphia fighting - 5 min S. Hartnell
15:18 Pittsburgh roughing - 2 min S. Crosby
15:18 Pittsburgh instigator - 2 min C. Adams
15:18 Pittsburgh misconduct - 10 min J. Neal
15:18 Pittsburgh fighting - 5 min C. Adams
15:18 Pittsburgh game misconduct - 10 min C. Adams
17:38 Philadelphia cross checking - 2 min Z. Rinaldo
17:38 Philadelphia unsportsmanlike conduct - 2 min Z. Rinaldo
17:38 Philadelphia misconduct - 10 min Z. Rinaldo

Shanahan do your job, make a decision, stop dragging your feet just because you have to suspend players from the Pen-goons.