Make NHL referees accountable. It would be one simple step that would make hockey games better and officiating more transparent.
It was a Hall of Fame moment from a former superstar. And it took only 13 words.
“I loved our game,” Martin St. Louis said, “but I’m not going to talk about the refs.”
Repeated six times during a brief press session that offered nothing else, the comment was one of eloquence. St. Louis had just watched the refs cost his team at least a point in a game as poorly officiated as any you’re likely to see.
The work of veteran referees Kelly Sutherland and Francis Charron at Madison Square Garden Saturday was simply unacceptable. The bad calls went both ways, but the really egregious decisions all went the way of the Rangers.
In the wake of that hot mess, Sportsnet’s Eric Engels offered a solution.
“All officials should be forced to speak after all games in this league,” Engels wrote. “If not them, the supervisors overseeing each game should be made available to the press to provide clarifications, justifications, or perhaps just a smidgen of accountability for when the job is botched on the level it was in Saturday’s game.”
Make the referees immediately accountable. It would be one simple step to make the game better and the officiating more transparent. If you’re going to ignore Will Cuylle’s trip on Joel Armia leading to the Rangers’ winning goal, at the very least you should have to explain it.
Worse, the refs somehow left the Canadiens a man short after a harmless scrum — and failed even to use one of their microphones to announce the penalties.
If Sutherland and Charron had to face the music immediately after the game, it might have affected a notoriously awful performance and forced the referees to raise their game.
Any of that would be misplaced. Dach took the penalty (and it was, unusually for that game, an actual penalty) because he was involved and aggressive and he was out there battling. As long as the big guy is doing that, the rest of his game will come.
On an afternoon when the Victoire had a huge edge in shots on goal and the run of play, Ottawa goalie Emerance Maschmeyer came close to stealing it — but give Captain Clutch a breakaway and two cracks in the shootout and she is going to score.
Montreal always gives good crowd but the Victoire Army, heavy on excited youngsters, is next level. If you thought the party atmosphere might dim with the move from the Verdun Auditorium to 10,000-seat Place Bell, no worries. The arena rocked and so did the Victoire.
Matheson was a minus-4 but it was worse than that, especially on the back-breaking fourth goal off Matheson’s howler of a power play pass with no one in a Habs uniform anywhere near.
Call it a celebratory assist for the Bruins, marking their 100th season in the NHL and their evolution into a team that is now a mere 18 Stanley Cups behind the Canadiens.
I’m not fond of the “on pace for” stat, but with 16 goals in 24 games, Caufield is cruising toward a 50-goal season and is in the mix for the Rocket Richard Trophy. Add the plays Lane Hutson is making (his pass to Nick Suzuki for the tying goal in New York was a classic) and the Canadiens are being led by their two smallest players, one a rookie.
Just Joshin’: Full props to Josh Anderson for responding to a difficult season by reinventing himself. Anderson has become a valuable penalty killer and an intimidating brawler when he chooses.
Few players in this league have earned a beating more thoroughly than headhunter Jacob Trouba. Anderson administered that beating Saturday in retaliation for Trouba’s hit on Justin Barron last time these teams met.
A guy who can skate, shoot, kill penalties and fight will be a valuable commodity come the trade deadline. Anderson checks all the boxes — but he’s also valuable right where he is.
Heroes: Cole Caufield, Josh Anderson, Lane Hutson, Nick Suzuki, Emil Heineman, Martin St. Louis, Josh Allen, Valérie Maltais, Juan Martin del Potro, the PWHL, Emerance Maschmeyer, Laura Stacey &&&& last but not least, Marie-Philip Poulin.
Zeros: John Herdman, Bev Priestman, Kelly Sutherland, Francis Charron, Jacob Trouba, Roman Rotenberg, Tom Brady, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, FIA, Wayne Gretzky, Aaron Rodgers, Bud Selig Jr., Claude Brochu, David Samson &&&& last but not least, Jeffrey Loria.
Now and forever.