There can be things about a sport you don’t like, and you can normally go about your business avoiding them, pretending they don’t exist and enjoying the games. But this week, it was impossible to ignore one of the worst rules in the NHL.
The instigator penalty is a utter detriment to the league.
If fighting is going to be allowed — and it should be — it has to come organically. You know, exactly the way the Rangers’ Dylan McIlrath went after the Bruins’ Matt Beleskey last Friday afternoon.
It started when the Boston forward recklessly threw Blueshirts alternate captain Derek Stepan into the boards on a late hit that broke two of Stepan’s ribs, set to keep him out for four-to-six weeks.