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First, while you might not like the fact that another player's injury is an important factor, in the real world, it is. Honestly, had Sedin not seen Nolan coming, it could easily have been a stretcher situation for him, too. Should Nolan then not be suspended for an attempt to injure, albeit one that didn't actually result in an injury?
Second, it's not the exact situation because Thornton came in from behind Orpik, sloughfooted him to the ground and suckered him in the head. Sestito gives Nolan warning that he's going to fight him before the puck is dropped, and then does exactly what he says he's going to do. There's no sucker punch and Nolan was not taken by surprise, he just didn't want to fight. Very different situations.
If you want to compare it to something, you could compare it to Emery on Holtby, except that Holtby hadn't done anything prior to the incident to warrant getting the crap beat out of him, and Emery didn't tell Holtby what he was going to do beforehand.
I guess you could also compare it to John Scott on Phil Kessel because the lead up was the same... except that again, Kessel hadn't done anything to deserve it, and Jordan Nolan isn't exactly the same type of player as Kessel is.
Did you actually watch the game, though? That's not what happened. The Canucks came out and outplayed the Ducks in the first period, but ended up down 2 because sometimes that's hockey. Then about halfway through the second, they ended up getting completely unglued and it turned into a rout. Once it's 6-1 after two, the third period is a formality.
Hilariously, it was a far closer game in terms of how it was played than the last time they were at the Honda, which was actually the single worst drubbing I have seen the Canucks take in years. They got absolutely raped. And they lost that game in OT with less than 1 second left. Hockey is weird.
Here's the shot attempt chart for last night's game (note that the last bit is a flat line for Van because the Ducks were on a 7 minute 5 on 3).
And here's the previous game, the one they lost 4-3 in OT.
Once Anaheim scores their first goal it's just a massacre. That game was so bad the Canucks Army recap was titled "Stop! Stop! They're already dead!"
