I’m not a hockey fan, so don’t know anything about the players or even team names. But i just saw i trending. Maybe these 2 teams are rivals, but im wondering why the refs are allowing them to fight. Unlike the NBA, refs always get into the middle to stop any punches but NHL is different. Its not cool for kids to watch, but I’m entertained LOL
They added the instigator penalty to cut down fights as well. The player deemed responsible for startibg the fight gets an extra penalty, and that does indeed give the other team an advantage.
Instigator penalties aren’t given out every time people fight, they are only given in cases where one dude goes waaaaaaaay out his way to start a fight. The rest of the time the fighting penalties are even which doesn’t result in a power play for either team.
As the other user commented, instigator is hardly ever actually used.
NHL reffing is… not great most of the time. Despite being a fan of the sport, I would like to see changes that would reduce the future rates of TBI among players. Refs actually enforcing the rules would probably help a bit there.