Rangers win 3-2 in Shoot-Out — plus a bonus referee rant!
I very very rarely complain about officiating. It’s a tough job, and for the most part the refs in the NHL do it pretty well. I do, however, have a problem with the calls made (and not made) at the end of the 3rd period of tonight’s game. If you didn’t watch, here’s what happened:
Just before the end of regulation, Colton Orr threw a vicious but clean hit on a Buffalo player right in front of the Buffalo bench. As the horn sounded to end the period, Sabres forward Andrew Peters — who was not on the ice! — threw a left hook at Colton Orr from the bench. Orr responded with a shove, and Peters threw in another punch for good measure.
The only calls were a 10-minute misconduct on both Orr and Peters. What? Really? If you are the referee… what do you call? Certainly Peters deserves a misconduct, which he got. But I would argue that he deserves at least a roughing penalty as well. And why is there a misconduct on Orr? At any rate, throwing a punch from the bench is bush league.
Anyway… I can’t be too mad because the Rangers won the game. It was a closely contested match but the blueshirts got the 2 points they needed.
Eric will have some more on this game later…
About the author: Marc is a Long Island native and a hockey goalie. He has been a Rangers fan for as long as he can remember, although, in the interest of full disclosure, there was a time during the 1993 playoffs when he vaguely remembers cheering for Pierre Turgeon and the Islanders after the Dale Hunter cheap shot. His favorite Ranger of all time is Mike Richter. Related posts:
