Maybe not suspending Ryan Getzlaf was the worst-possible punishment for the Anaheim Ducks.
The team was knocked out of the Stanley Cup playoffs by the Nashville Predators on Monday, blowing home-ice advantage in its quarterfinal series. The team went 0-2 after Getzlaf, their captain, was caught yelling a gay slur at a referee in Game 4.
Now the Ducks will watch the rest of the playoffs from their couches.
The Predators outscored the Ducks, 9-4, in games 5 and 6, one of them a 3-1 smackdown of the Ducks in their own arena.
Getzlaf infamously called a referee a gay slur on multiple occasions during Game 4, later denying it was directed at anyone, blaming TSN for labeling it a homophobic slur, and taking absolutely no responsibility for any of it.
The NHL reacted almost as badly, refusing to suspend Getzlaf despite suspending Andrew Shaw of the Chicago Blackhawks for using a gay slur during the Stanley Cup playoffs last year.
The Ducks had been the top seed in the Western Conference.
#karma
