The National Hockey League takes a lot of grief because of its decision making processes.

Commissioner Gary Bettman and Senior Vice President and Director of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell send inconsistent messages with discipline, scheduling – as we have seen in the Stanley Cup Finals — and what is best for the league in regards to marketing and sales.

In Sunday’s Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals, the NHL was inconsistent again. This time, however, it is right to be inconsistent.

Penguins’ star forward Evegeni Malkin was handed an instigator penalty with 18.2 seconds remaining because of his late-game antics aimed toward Red Wings’ center Henrik Zetterberg.

Circling behind the net while a scrum ensued in front of goalie Chris Osgood, Malkin picked a fight with last year’s Conn Smythe Trophy winner for the playoff’s Most Valuable Player. Malkin is no stranger of his own to NHL hardware – he is a Hart Trophy finalist this year for league MVP.

Rule 47.22 in the NHL rule book states: “A player who is deemed to be the instigator of an altercation in the final five minutes or at any time in overtime shall be suspended for one game, pending a review of the incident. The director of hockey operations will review every such incident and may rescind the suspension based on a number of criteria. The criteria for the review shall include, but not be limited to, the score, previous incidents, etc. …”

So what prompted Campbell to rescind the suspension within hours of the games finish?

It is clear Malkin instigated a fight in the final seconds of a two-goal game. But really, it’s quite simple. The league cannot afford to suspend Malkin. Despite wide-spread criticism, the NHL is right on this case.

For a league that is struggling to keep the title as one of the four major sports in North America, the NHL has to do everything it can to entertain its fans. The NHL has made two crucial decisions for the better of the league in the past week. Both decisions were made to keep the momentum the league was able to generate from a monumental playoff run — a playoff run that saw three Game 7’s in the second round, including one featuring league darlings Sidney Crosby of Pittsburgh and Alexander Ovechkin of Washington square off. The league also benefited from having two dormant Original Six franchises – Chicago and Boston – resurrect from the dead and make strong playoff pushes.

The first decision had to do with moving the schedule of the Stanley Cup Finals up a week to avoid a long layoff between rounds. NBC dictated the series start on a weekend because of Conan O’Brien’s debut as host of The Tonight Show during the week of June 1.

But the NHL was faced with another dilemna when Malkin engaged Zetterberg. Respect the rules and sit Malkin, arguably Pittsburgh’s best player through two games, or rescind the suspension and let Pittsburgh head home with a full cast.

In a time were the league is desperate for new fans and large draws, it would be best to ask, “What’s best for the league?”

In this case, the answer is simple — Malkin must play. If Malkin missed Game 3 and Pittsburgh were to lose, the NHL would have a part in setting Pittsburgh behind 3-0 in the series, a lead that has only been overcome twice in league history.

Ouch… that cannot be good for ratings.

Besides, what is better than seeing two superstars exchange blows on the biggest of stages? Let’s not overreact to a situation that was stirred by emotion and frustration. In the end, nobody got hurt anyway.

As Zetterberg said shortly after the game, “It should be a lot of feelings, and nothing more than that.”

sports@cm-life.com

E-mail the author: Andrew Stover