Complaining about the referees is a long-standing tradition in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
On Friday, mere minutes apart, the Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks both may have had legitimate beefs — though Vancouver ended up with the lone goal following the sequence of events in the second period of Game 2 of their Western Conference semifinal.
First, referees Kelly Sutherland and Eric Furlatt missed a Connor McDavid high stick on Quinn Hughes that drew blood with the score tied at 2-2.
“From my perspective, I got hit in the face,” Hughes said after the game, and it was impossible to argue.
It immediately brought back memories of ref Kerry Fraser not calling Wayne Gretzky for a high stick on Toronto Maple Leafs star Doug Gilmour that drew blood in overtime of Game 6 of the 1993 Campbell Conference Final. Gretzky went on to score the overtime winner and the Los Angeles Kings then won Game 7 to take the series.
Thirty-one years later, however, there was a different twist.
“I think there should have been a huddle and somebody had to see that (McDavid high stick). So I kind of wonder on the (Nikita) Zadorov goal, I felt like it was too many men there,” Kevin Bieksa said on Sportsnet’s second-intermission panel.
As the Oilers cleared the puck, Zadorov already had jumped on the ice when another Canucks player was trying to jump back onto the bench, narrowly missing the puck. The Oilers players stood up on their bench, seemingly trying to signify that the Canucks had too many men.
“That is a competitive advantage from a defensive standpoint,” Bieksa said.
Zadorov went on to score on the same play to give the Canucks a 3-2 lead.
However, McDavid scored the tying goal in the third before the Oilers won in overtime to even up the series at 1-1.
Watch Game 3 on Sunday at 9:30 p.m. ET / 6:30 p.m. PT on Sportsnet or Sportsnet+.
