Maple Leafs: The Habs Beat Themselves, Refs Had Nothing to do With It

The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Montreal Canadiens last night in decisive fashion.

The Toronto Maple Leafs won by four goals, controlled play at 5v5, and limited the Canadiens ability to get scoring chances all night long. (Two dangerous scoring chances is all Montreal had all night).

Now, despite the absolute domination the Leafs just exhibited, the Canadiens, their fans, and a lot of people who just generally hate the the Leafs are upset about the officiating in last night’s game.

Ironic though, because it was a sign that the NHL is finally understanding how to police their own sport.

Montreal vs the Referees

The Canadiens took six penalties in a row last night, something I don’t remember ever seeing in an NHL game.  The NHL is well known (you could call it an open secret) to promote their officials to call the games evenly, under the faulty premise that they don’t want the referees to decide the game.  (stats naturalstattrick.com).

As many people have pointed out for years, this is stupid.  It is a logical fallacy.  If you call the game by the rules, then it is the teams, not the referees, who decide when they take a penalty.  This should be common sense, but people like to pass the blame – it’s human nature.

The NHL has regularly called even-up calls for as long as anyone can remember.  If you see a team take two penalties back-to-back, you know for sure the next call is going against the other team.

But the NHL may be rethinking things.  They were embarrassed earlier this year when Tim Peel – a veteran referee who was close to retiring anyways – said the truth out loud.  Ooops.  Despite just doing his job exactly as he had been told to do it, Peel was fired.

This put the NHL in a pickle. If you have to fire Tim Peel, you probably also have to call the game fairly.  That’s what happened last night.

With no even-up mandate, the refs just called the actual penalties as they happened.  The refs didn’t beat Montreal, Montreal beat themselves.

First Penalty: high sticking. Pretty obvious.

Second Penalty: slash at the hands.  Kind of a lame call, but the NHL did crack down on this this year, so it’s consistent.

Third Penalty: cross check that breaks the stick. Obvious.

Fourth Penalty: The dumbest coaches challenge in NHL history.

Fifth Penalty: Weber is enraged and crosschecks Engvall. Easy call.

Sixth Penalty: Byron does the same thing. These guys must not like Pierre.  Just because the game is out of hand doesn’t mean you can do this stuff.

Of the six penalties, five of them were no-doubters. And while I’m sure the refs could have justified a call or two against the Leafs, the Canadiens also could have had 12 penalties in a row.  When you are outmatched and the talent discrepancy is this massive, you only have one way to win, and that is to try to crush your opponents physically.

But while hockey is a physical game, it shouldn’t be a rule-free melee that sees star players neutralized by dirty play.  If you want to play on the edge, you are going to have to risk taking penalties.  On the other hand, if you play a clean game, you deserve to be rewarded.

The Leafs discipline, exemplified by Matthews laughing as song goon tried to swing him around by the jersey, is partly why they are going to the Stanley Cup. The NHL actually calling the games properly is of a benefit to them based on the talent they have assembled.

The Maple Leafs won the game last night, but you can also say that Montreal lost it by being undisciplined and playing dumb. The refs had nothing to do with it.  The NHL should be congratulated for finally figuring out how to officiate a hockey game, and this game should be an example they use going forward.