Orr Hit Sparks Bizarre Series of Events

In the third period of Pittsburgh's 4-3 win over the Rangers on Saturday afternoon, Colton Orr was issued a five-minute major for interference (and a game misconduct) for this hit on Pittsburgh's Mark Eaton.

Penguins 4, Rangers 3: Recap | Box Score | Eastern Conf. Playoff Race

Uh. OK. Let's see if we can figure out what's going on here. It appears as if Orr makes no effort to play the puck, and instead goes for a hit on Eaton (while he doesn't have possession of the puck) and sends him into the glass. I could see an interference penalty being called here, just as I could easily see one not getting called. But five minutes and a game misconduct? Let's see what the NHL rule book has to say about interference penalties:

56.4 Major Penalty - The Referee, at his discretion, may assess a major penalty, based on the degree of violence, to a player or goalkeeper guilty of interfering with an opponent (see 56.5).

56.5 Game Misconduct Penalty – When a major penalty is imposed under this rule for a foul resulting in an injury of an opponent, a game misconduct shall be imposed.

The key phrase in rule 56.4 is, "at his discretion." Basically, if Eaton doesn't have his face busted open, resulting in puddles of blood all over the ice, I think Orr skates off with a two-minute minor and we're done with it.

Immediately following the call, Rangers head coach John Tortorella was livid. So livid, in fact, that he forgot to put a man in the penalty box to serve the penalty in place of Orr. This became troublesome when the penalty expired and the Rangers were unable to get back to full strength because there was nobody to come out of the box, resulting in the Rangers penalty killers having to play an extra 15-20 seconds down a man. The Penguins failed to capitalize.

Here's what Tortorella had to say following the game:

"I guess the thing that's frustrating is two teams with the type of (playoff) position we're in this time of year, I just hope that we allow the teams to make the difference, to determine the results," New York coach John Tortorella said. "I'll leave it at that."

Just four seconds after Orr's call, Pittsburgh's Chris Kunitz was sent off for hooking Marc Staal, cutting the power play time from five minutes down to three minutes. Well, three minutes and 20 seconds when you factor in the assist from the Rangers' coaching staff.

The Penguins failed to score on all nine of their power play opportunities. Two of them came in the final minute of the third period as the Rangers took tripping calls to prevent an empty net goal (it's not like you have to defend them), while another was an abbreviated four-second advantage that was wiped out by a Bill Guerin interference penalty.

Sidney Crosby ultimately broke the 3-3 tie midway through the third period when he split the Rangers' defense and beat Henrik Lundqvist for his 29th goal of the season.

Ruslan Fedotenko also scored for the Penguins -- his first goal in 15 games -- while adding two assists in the win.