Montreal and New York decided to play some real old school hockey on Tuesday night.
From 1909-1911, the National Hockey Association – a precursor to the NHL – played with six skaters and a goalie. That extra man was called a ‘rover’.
The Blueshirts and the Habs brought the rover back. Both teams were skating with six aside when Montreal tied the game at 1-1.
The officials might have missed it, but at least neither team had a manpower advantage as a result.
The Canadiens got the better of the situation, generating a 2-on-1 that led to the game-tying goal.
Way, way, way too many men on the ice. pic.twitter.com/e86aXcZukr
— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) April 18, 2017
Alas, the brief ‘rover’ resurgence came to an end after that play. Both clubs kept a tighter rein on their line changes for the remainder of the game.
No word on whether the two ‘Original Six’ clubs will consider bringing back any other vintage rules for Game 5, like prohibiting forward passes (1929) or penalizing goalies who drop to the ice to make saves (1917)
