Avs captain Gabriel Landeskog fires a shot at Tampa over officiating in Game 5
Oh the irony of NHL officiating. After Game 4, Jon Cooper put on an Oscar worthy performance about too many men and poor officiating on Nazem Kadri's overtime winner. His whining and complaining seemed to have worked in Game 5 as there were a few calls against Colorado that should probably not have been called in the playoffs.
For one, Kadri was called for hooking in the first period. The call was made by the back official 100 feet away with an obstructed view while the ref right next to the play had no issue with Kadri's stick lift on Nick Paul.
Early in the second period it looked as though the Avs would be going on the powerplay, but once again, the back official 100 feet away called J.T. Compher for holding the stick on Alex Killorn after Killorn pitchforked his own stick under Compher's arm leading to 4-on-4 hockey instead.
Finally, how about all the hooking Cale Makar received as he split the Tampa defense on a Colorado powerplay? Nothing was called there, and Makar was HOT about it, letting the officials know that they missed one.
Seems to me that with Tampa on the verge of being eliminated, the refs did everything in their power, including calling a too many men penalty on Colorado with 3 minutes left to help Tampa stay alive. Was it justified? Maybe, but it doesn't change the fact that the officials appeared to be out to give one back to the Bolts.
After the game, Avs Captain Gabriel Landeskog was asked about the poor officiating and instead of complaining, directed a shot at the Lightning and Jon Cooper saying, "I'm not going to get into that. That's something they can continue to do, but we're not doing that."
Game 6 on Sunday night should be an intense game in Tampa and one can only hope the officials call the game fairly for once in these playoffs.
| POLL | ||
25 JUIN | 348 ANSWERS Avs captain Gabriel Landeskog fires a shot at Tampa over officiating in Game 5 If the playoffs end tomorrow, who should win the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP? | ||
| Steven Stamkos | 41 | 11.8 % |
| Nathan MacKinnon | 27 | 7.8 % |
| Cale Makar | 214 | 61.5 % |
| Andrei Vasilevskiy | 66 | 19 % |
| List of polls | ||
