With a 3-1 lead and seven minutes to go against the Dallas Stars on Sunday night, the Nashville Predators really didn’t need to take a penalty, but they did. Social media lit up almost instantly with takes about the penalty, the penalty taker, and the circumstances surrounding it.
The penalty was a crosscheck. The guilty party was Ryan Johansen. It happened in the flurry of activity immediately following an ugly hit by Jason Dickinson on Roman Josi that looked a lot like boarding and had the Predators captain’s head slammed against the spot where the boards meet the glass.