If you didn’t watch the game and relied on stats for your narrative it would be easy to say the lopsided penalty differential suggested the Flames sucked, got dominated, and in frustration took a bunch of unnecessary penalties.
From watching the game it looked like the refs were going to let the game get chippy and keep their whistles in their pockets, but as soon as the Flames got up and had the opportunity to build on their lead the refs suddenly call Hanifin on a routine nudge in a corner battle. Later Lindholm had the book thrown at him when a Flyer turtled to avoid a hit and got his bell rung when it got awkward. In the refs final piece de resistance, on the Flames disallowed tying goal Zary pushes the Flyers defenseman who had lost his stick and the defenseman seizes the chance to take a swim to stop the play. Garbage officiating sullied one of Markstroms best games and it really felt rigged from my perspective.
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