RALEIGH, N.C. — The Bruins have every reason to be a bit ornery when to comes to on-ice officiating this postseason.
Boston stands just one win away from its third trip to the Stanley Cup Final this decade, but the B’s have had to overcome plenty of calls that haven’t gone their way through these first three rounds against the Maple Leafs, Blue Jackets and Hurricanes.
Goaltender interference has been a thorn in the side of Bruce Cassidy’s club — with tallies from Jake DeBrusk in Game 3 against Carolina and Sean Kuraly in Game 6 against Columbus waved off upon further review. Meanwhile, calls have gone in favor of the opposition, with a snipe from Auston Matthews in Game 5 of the opening round standing despite Boston challenging the play.
And let’s not forget that goal from the Eastern Conference Semifinals, where a puck caught up in the netting did not stop play — leading to an Artemi Panarin goal against the B’s.
Still, the team with the biggest gripe of the postseason has to be the St. Louis Blues — who lost to the Sharks, 5-4, in Game 3 of the Western Conference Final on Wednesday night.
Erik Karlsson’s second goal of the night closed out a win for the Sharks in overtime, but the secondary assist from Timo Meier certainly looked like it came by way of a hand pass. Despite the Blues’ protests, NHL series director Kay Whitmore told a pool reporter postgame that it was “a non-reviewable play.” Yikes.
The Blues were far from the only party outraged that a game in a conference final was decided in such a manner, with Martin St. Louis and others harping on the need for additional video review — especially for all scoring plays, similar to how the NFL conducts itself under similar situations.
However, the two bench bosses in the Eastern Conference Final differ a bit when it comes to how much video review should be integrated into the game.
“It looked like a hand pass to me,”
Bruce Cassidy
said. “I’m watching the game, didn’t get called. I don’t know what else — I have no strong opinion on expanding replay. I’m probably one of the guys that sometimes think there’s too much involved. There’s human error in the game, you’ve got to live through it.
“ But the argument that’s made — with technology, everyone in the rink sees the play, so how can you not use it if it’s available to you? We can probably sit here for an hour and go through it all, but I just, you get some calls go your way, some don’t, you’ve got to play through it. That’s just tough in overtime — the game’s over. You don’t have an opportunity to sort of put it behind you, get back out there on the ice immediately, you’ve got to wait two days. Unfortunate for St. Louis.”
Rod Brind’Amour,
on the other hand …
“It’s been time forever,” Carolina’s head coach said of adding additional video review. “I was sitting at home with my son watching that game. There was a play earlier that I think the puck was flipped over the glass, and I said, ‘Watch how long this is going to take. We’ll know within three seconds.’ And we did — three seconds.
“They showed it, NBC showed the review and it was a penalty. And they were actually quick to say no penalty, but it’s time. There’s a lot. We can go on about this forever. It’s time to get the calls right, because it’s just too important. I mean, the games matter so much and man, I don’t know — that’s tough last night to watch.”
For Brind’Amour, adding more video review and accountability not only ensures that accurate calls out on the ice, but also bails out the officials — who are often caught having to make split-second calls.
“Help the refs. These refs are great refs. Live — you can’t tell. I’m telling ya,” Brind’Amour said. “So many calls, I go, ‘I don’t really know,’ look down and I see and then I lose my mind, because I know it was the wrong call, but they can’t be expected to make those calls like that. It’s way too hard. There’s an easy solution for it, I think. They’ll get to it, because this can’t keep going on.”
Add another issue to the docket for the league to quarrel over this summer.
Halak’s efforts paying off
Jaroslav Halak has not seen a single second of game action this postseason — but his impact continues to reverberate throughout this Cup run for the Bruins.
A key offseason pick-up for the B’s this summer, Halak — a starter for most of his 13-year NHL career — was brought aboard in order to spell
Tuukka Rask
from extended reps and keep him fresh for the postseason.
Finishing with a fantastic .922 save percentage over 40 games and 37 starts, Halak helped keep Boston afloat when Rask struggled out the gate (4-4-0, .901 save percentage through his first eight games).
It was an offseason priority for the B’s to drum up some competition in net for Rask — a move that is now looking like a masterstroke for
Don Sweeney
and Co.
“Obviously not an easy situation for Jaro to be sitting,”
David Krejci
said. “He always needs to be ready, but during the season, right from training camp, it seems like (him and Rask) hit it off, off the ice, and that’s an important thing, that they’ve got each other’s back. I thought they both played really well in the season. We feel pretty comfortable with both guys in the net."
