NHL fans react as head check on Nathan MacKinnon goes uncalled

NHL fans on social media reacted to an unpenalized cross-check on Colorado Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon.

In Game 5 of the Avalanche-Stars series on Monday, Stars’ Roope Hintz delivered a cross-check to the back of MacKinnon’s head near the faceoff circle. However, no call was made on the play, prompting fans to share their reactions on social media.

Here’s a video of the play:

One fan on X (formerly Twitter) wrote:

“Hot damn! Finnish mafia baby!!”

Another chimed in:

“Cross checked him on his brain stem, yet no call!”

Here are some of the other top reactions on X:

“No, the whole team has to jump him after that. The f*ck is he doing?” a third fan commented.

“And the penalty on Malinski after we scored the second goal was absolutely a garbage call. Dallas getting away with whatever they want. And there Ice and arena sucks. Hockey doesn’t belong in Texas. Sorry ahh state,” one opined.

“We’ve learned from other series that this is now a legal means to crosscheck an opposing player – make some amount of contact with the head and it’s legal,” one X user wrote.

“There are so many missed calls in this series for both sides. At least he didn’t full on superman forearm shiver him and score the tieing goal. I’m so pissed for the TBL fans,” another chimed in.

Nathan MacKinnon and Avs drop Game 5 to Stars

On Monday, the Dallas Stars hosted the Colorado Avalanche at American Airlines Center for Game 5. The Stars came out on top with a commanding 6-2 win to lead the best-of-seven series 3-2.

Wyatt Johnson opened the scoring for the Stars after putting them ahead 1-0 just nine seconds into the game. Thomas Harley increased the lead to 2-0 at 19:15. Entering the second period, Mikko Rantanen made it 3-0 for the Stars at 1:12.

Artturi Lehkonen cut the Stars’ lead to 3-1 after scoring a tip-in goal at 12:11. Nathan MacKinnon then cut the deficit to 3-2 for the Avs at 14:38. Johnson doubled his tally on the night after scoring on the power play to make it 4-2 at 16:48.

Mason Marchment increased the Stars’ lead to 5-2 before the end of the second period. Hintz scored on an empty-net to clinch the win for the Stars at 17:55 into the final period.