Now I don't often complain that officials cost the Canadiens games. If you thumb through my posts you can see that. But tonight at the Bell Centre, the referees handed the game to the Pens. Whether it's just horrible officiating or the NHL has some agenda to give the Pens as much help as they need, who knows. The Montreal Canadiens came out on the short end of a 3-2 score against the Pittsburgh Penguins. With the score tied 2-2 heading into the 3rd, the Habs were assessed 3 straight minor penalties (2 of them were questionable calls), and although they killed them all, the Pens scored to take a 3-2. One of the calls occured when Hal Gill slid and knocked the puck away. Crosby then stepped on his glove and fell.....and that's a triping call? I'm sure it had nothing to do with it being Crosby. The Pens committed several infractions as bad if not worse than what the Canadiens were called for but did not recieved a single penalty in the 3rd. Then with just over 6 minutes to go, Maxime Lappiere threw the puck on net. It sat beside MA Fluery's pad until Lapierre chipped it across the crease to Scott Gomez who potted the tieing goal. Referee Chris Lee appeared to begin to signal a goal, only to stop at the last moment and wave it off. The reason I guess was that he lost sight of the puck. THERE ARE 3 OTHER REFEREES ON THE ICE, ASK FOR SOME HELP! The puck was never frozen, the goal was scored before any whistle blew, he refused to consult other officials or go to video review, & the call cost the Habs at least a point. Matt D'Agostini and Roman Hamrlik scored for the Canadiens. Carey Price stopped 38 shots while Fleury made 19 for the Pens. Some other thoughts from a tainted game:>The PK again was very good holding the Pens scoreless in 5 attempts. The Habs PP went 1/3.
>Lil Tits had his worst game since being called up, with several giveaways and limited hustle. Dags got his first goal in a while which was nice to see.
>O'Byrne again looked nervous and ended the night with 2 penalties. Hamrlik, Spacek, Gorges and Gill did a pretty good job on the Pens top 2 lines.
Horrible way to lose a game. Chris Lee has screwed the Canadiens before and he did it again tonight. When an official makes a mistake like this and refuses to seek out the assistance of the other refs and/or video review officials he should be disciplined. Mistakes happen, no one is perfect, but the reason they put the 2 referee system in place is to prevent travesties like this. The Silver Wolf Whiskey Hab of the Game goes to Roman Hamrlik. Hammer had 8 blocked shots and a goal. Consideration also given to Moen and Pleks. Next up Saturday against the Thrashers. We'll cross our fingers Chris Lee isn't one of the refs.
No comments:
Post a Comment