Montreal Canadiens: NHL officiating needs a serious review

The Montreal Canadiens have had their fair share of bad calls with refs and the recent in San Jose Sharks win is another reason why it needs to be fixed.

The 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs is starting to have a single theme that continues to grow as each round passes. Not that the underdog has an equal chance, demonstrated by the flurry of upsets in the first round. Not even another example of players hitting a switch when the postseason begins. What has the hockey world up in arms is NHL officiating, a problem the Montreal Canadiens are all too well familiar with.

Every team has their number of bad and missed calls during the regular season, but some of the things the Habs have gone through, especially this season, were shocking. Blatant hits allowed, soft tripping calls, goaltending interference inconsistencies (which is more of an indictment on the NHL as a whole), you name it. Luckily, the Montreal Canadiens haven’t had a significant call cost them a key victory.

So what is the recent story? There’s been an unjustly but just take going around that the San Jose Sharks are still alive in the playoffs because of the refs.

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Let’s break it down:

1. Round 1 – Game 7: Cody Eakin is given a five-minute major penalty for a cross-check gone wrong, resulting in Joe Pavelski falling. Reason for the call? The refs believed it was the cross-check that left Pavelski with blood falling from his head when it was actually the impact of his head on the ice that caused the injury. However, the Vegas Golden Knights can’t give up four goals on the penalty kill. It was a bad call but stop the puck.
2. Round 2 – Game 7: Colin Wilson‘s goal was called back because Gabriel Landeskog was called for offside. Landeskog was the sixth man on the ice and took too long to get back on the bench, which was the result of the callback. The NHL was willing to accept that Landeskog was involved in the play enough to be offside, but there was no ‘too many men’ penalty called on the Avalanche. Curious.

Then there is what happened during Game 3. The Sharks and Blues had their game go to overtime, and Logan Couture tied it up with 1:01 to go in the third period.

San Jose got the victory after Erik Karlsson scored his second goal of the game off a very controversial non-call. Timo Meir breaks in and takes an initial shot that goes off of Jay Bouwmeester. He sticks with the play falling down in the process, launching the puck in the air.

Meir then slaps the puck over to the left side of the crease allowing Gustav Nyquist to make a small one-timer pass to Karlsson who beats Jordan Binnington.

It was a blatant hand pass, there’s no doubt about that. Here is the direct wording of Rule 79.1 in the NHL Official Rule Book for the 2018-19 season.

"A player shall be permitted to stop or “bat” a puck in the air with his open hand, or push it along the ice with his hand, and the play shall not be stopped unless, in the opinion of the on-ice officials, he has directed the puck to a teammate, or has allowed his team to gain an advantage, and subsequently possession and control of the puck is obtained by a player of the offending team, either directly or deflected off any player or official."

Yes, the play was non-reviewable at that point of the game, but there is a ref there the whole way watching everything. He didn’t see Meir direct the puck to Nyquist with his hand? All it would’ve taken is for him to stand up and blow it dead and then the game continues.

It’s a real shame to have the refs be involved in a playoff game negatively. What will it take to change? Does something have to go wrong in the Stanley Cup Final? Are Vegas, Colorado, and St. Louis not big enough markets for the front office to care?

Imagine if this was happening to the Montreal Canadiens. The backlash wouldn’t stop, and it shouldn’t.

Regardless of what happens and who ends up lifting the Stanley Cup, NHL officiating needs a serious review. It would be different if it were the same two or three refs making mistakes, but it’s been several across different series’. Something has to give before it’s too late.