The officiating has been the story in the first four days of the 2008 Stanley Cup playoffs. There has not been much love directed toward the men in stripes these days.
Here's a recap:
- The usually unaffected New Jersey Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello was seen and heard yelling at NHL supervisor Terry Gregson after Game 2 of his team's series against the New York Rangers outside the official's dressing room at the Prudential Center. Lamoriello was upset about three calls that went against the Devils, a Jamie Langenbrunner hooking penalty, a missed hooking infraction on New York's Blair Betts and an icing call against the Devils even though they were shorthanded.
- Nashville Predators GM David Poile and his coach Barry Trotz were incensed at referee Dan Marouelli when he waived off a possible goal from Predators forward Alexander Radulov early in Game 2 against the Detroit Red Wings. Marouelli ruled that he whistled the play dead before the puck crossed the line at about the same time the net came unhinged.
- Minnesota Wild GM Doug Risebrough went searching for an NHL official in the press box on Friday to voice his disdain after referee Eric Furlatt called a questionable hooking penalty on Wild defenceman Kim Johnsson with a minute and nine seconds remaining in regulation time. The Colorado Avalanche scored to send the game into overtime.
- The Boston Bruins weren't quite as animated, but they disagreed that the tripping penalty on Jeremy Reich called in overtime by referee Mike Leggo was warranted because they felt a high-stick on the follow through from Montreal Canadiens deffenceman Andrei Markov on Reich went undetected moments before the power-play was given to the Canadiens and led to Alex Kovalev's game winner.
