Montreal Canadiens: Top 5 Missed Calls By Referees In Game 2
The Montreal Canadiens lost Game 1 of the Stanley Cup semifinals, and were in tough in a battle against the Vegas Golden Knights to tie up the series in Game 2.
Little did they know (or did they) that they would also have to battle the referees in Game 2 as well.
It really shouldn’t come as a surprise at this point that the officials, even at this point in the season, are terribly inconsistent.
The worst part of it is none of them have the guts to make the most obvious of calls against a team that is losing in the third period. We have seen this all season long, and though I do find it impossible to believe that NHL referees are biased or have favourite teams, I find it incredibly obvious that they can not do their job well.
Their ineptitude was on full display in Game 2. The Canadiens took an early lead when Joel Armia scored just over six minutes into the first period. Though not in any rulebook, this also fully guaranteed the Canadiens would take the first penalty of the game and they did just three minutes later.
When Tyler Toffoli extended the Habs lead to 2-0 before the first period ended, it all but ensured that the Canadiens would have to have a player nearly decapitated before they would get a power play.
There would be as many decapatations as power plays for the Canadiens in this game. Though, if a ref just applied the rule book as they are supposed to do, there would have been several power play opportunities for the Canadiens in Game 2.
Let’s take a quick look at the five greatest missed calls by NHL referees Francis Charron and Good Dwyer.
#5: Blatant slash on Cole Caufield
Cole Caufield was zipping around the offensive zone as he has become accustomed to doing these days. He was moving towards his own blue line and about to move the puck back to his teammates at the blue line. Just as he passed the puck, Caufield received a fairly heavy two handed slash on his wrist or hand, but it was not called.
Somehow, there doesn’t seem to be video evidence of this missed call on any replays, but there are for the top four missed calls from Game 2.