More Scoring? No thanks.

I don't believe that I watched a hockey game last night.

Last night's game between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Tampa Bay Lightning was a case-in-point why the NHL does not need to take any measures to increase scoring. The game was 7-6 before it was even halfway said and done. That's just too much.

It was a disgrace.

We live in an era where all of the rules were changed post-lockout. Scoring, speed and skill are emphasized, and more penalties are called in favor of more powerplay opportunities, and thus more goals. I'm okay with the fact that the extent of these high scoring games are in the ballpark of 4-3, 5-4, and whatnot. But 8-7?

That's just wrong.

I've been given the argument that "that's how it was in the 80s". Fair enough. But this is the 2000s. The game has changed tremendously, and the superstars that ran rampant over barely athletic hockey players and under-equipped goaltenders had free reign to score. That's just how it went. It's not commonplace anymore. We're at a good middle ground right now.

Now the game of hockey is a lot more structured, and these games shouldn't be the direction the NHL wants.

I've been given the argument that these games will happen anyway. Agreed! They will. I have no doubt that teams go on scoring binges. It's easy for a team to rack up goals if given the chance under the current rules. But if this became commonplace, the game would become tiring, and a lot less exciting over the course of time. Do we really want double digits all the time?

The NHL has brought up the idea of making the nets bigger, or changing the rules so that more goals = more excitement, and more excitement = more fans, and in the end, more fans = more money.

I call crap.

Listen, as a broadcaster, I love calling goals as much as the next guy. But if every game has double digit goals, it becomes tiring. Last night's game was tiring to watch. Seeing goals back and forth would become tiring on an extremely regular basis. Goals should be worked hard for and earned. Hockey has pride in hard work.

But the way last night was going, these two teams didn't have to work for anything. They just traded goals back and forth. Do you want this to become hockey reality?

Some would argue that I'm sour that the Flyers lost as a result of one of these games. I would respond, maybe, but not entirely. A loss is a loss. I'm over that. The fact that the NHL desires something like this on a regular basis is a sad direction to go in, though. They really need to be careful they don't make the game something it isn't.

Think about Chris Pronger--one of the best defensemen in the history of the game. He prides himself on his solid defense at all times. But last night, he was entirely helpless against a game going 100 mph with goals at every second. If the game was just shinny all the time, where would be the pride in watching good defensemen go to work? How about the adage of "defense wins championships"?

We'd be stuck watching defensemen like Mike Green play all the time, and I don't think that's hockey as we, the real fans, want it.

But of course, it's not about what the real fans want. Of course not.

So, in essence, the NHL needs to chill out with perhaps increasing scoring. Because that would mean something like last night would be common, and the 2-1, 1-0 games would become a lost art.

I don't want those to be lost arts.