Controversial call from the officials may have cost the Leafs a win in Vancouver
Last night's game against the Vancouver Canucks was just another episode of the dreary 2023-24 season that the Toronto Maple Leafs would probably like to forget.
Of course, the Canucks are one of the better teams this season, but the Maple Leafs just seem to find new ways to lose on a nightly basis. There was, however, a moment in last night's game that could have turned the tides, were it not for the referees missing a very blatant and obvious double-minor.
The Canucks stormed through the first period with a 3-0 lead before the Maple Leafs came right back and tied things up with 3 goals in a span of 3:26 in the second period. A few minutes later, a scrum ensued in front of Thatcher Demko where Quinn Hughes was assessed a cross-checking minor and Morgan Rielly and Filip Hronek received coincidental minors for roughing.
The Leafs received a powerplay, but upon further review, Hughes should have received a double minor instead since Bertuzzi started to leak some blood.
The Leafs weren't able to convert on the 2-minute power play and it remains to be seen if they would have even scored had the referees given Hughes the double-minor. However, based on the Leafs' 8th ranked powerplay going head to head with a penalty kill below 80%, those would probably be good odds, especially with how the Leafs were playing at the time of the infraction.
The Canucks scored at the end of the period to jump back ahead before Mitch Marner tallied a game-tying shorthanded goal to start the third. J.T Miller and Elias Pettersson then scored successive power play goals within 3:31 in the middle of the frame to put the game away and hand the Leafs their 5th loss in the last 6 games.
Would the call have made a difference had the officials gotten it right? We'll never know. But it certainly wouldn't have hurt the Leafs and a big goal in that moment could have swayed all of the momentum and taken the wind out of the Canucks' sails.
| POLL | ||
JANVIER 21 | 711 ANSWERS Controversial call from the officials may have cost the Leafs a win in Vancouver Do you think this should have been a double-minor against the Canucks? | ||
| Absolutely, the evidence is right there | 536 | 75.4 % |
| No, I'm fine with the single minor penalty | 92 | 12.9 % |
| Don't care, just win! | 83 | 11.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
