Quote:
Originally Posted by Flamenspiel
The refs simply put the whistles away, just like the old days. I don’t blame them, when refs tried to make calls in the first round/second round, they booted them from the playoffs. Really, that was the mistake by the NHL, from then on you could see they were gun shy about calling penalties.
I don’t blame the refs at all, this is all on Gary Bettman. Those team apologies and all that were a complete circus show.
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That's simply not correct. When the refs made calls based based on the result of the play (player hurt) rather than the actual play itself that led up to the player getting hurt they got booted for good reason as that cost a team from advancing to the 2nd round of the playoffs. As Brian Burke correctly said it was one of the worst calls in the history of the NHL playoffs. Putting the whistles away is not a reaction to the first two rounds and simply what the officials have always referred to on the big stage which is game management. I'm glad that officiating has been the major discussion of these playoffs as IMO it's the worst part of the game. Officials need to be taught to stop managing the game and simply calling the game by the rule book. There's statistical evidence that shows that officials try too hard to manage the game;
https://www.tsn.ca/game-management-a...sues-1.1307201
The NFL has one instance in a big game where officials let them play and it results in major replay changes meanwhile it's something the NHL has simply turned a blind eye to forever. I would much rather lose a game where an official called a penalty at a critical juncture of a game that even if wishy washy falls under the definition of a penalty than lose a game on a non-call like last night where a team basically was allowed to cheat by taking a player out of the play illegally.