Thank You for the Gift, Refs!

Image Credit: Mike Smith | Thunderstruck Sports

The word is out, and Montreal Canadiens' social media is abuzz with its astute revelation that the NHL referees "gifted" game four of this round one best-of-seven series to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Credit to the fan base for seeing it because, clearly, the referees did their best to hide it.

The Referee Trickery

Midway through the first period of a scoreless game, the referees issued back-to-back penalties against the Lightning, giving Montreal a five on three for eleven seconds. The Bolts strategically killed it off. But perhaps the biggest act of trickery came with the Canadiens up 1-0. Referee Wes McCauley made what some might have considered a "soft call" on Jake Guentzel for a slash to goaltender Jakub Dobes just over twelve minutes into the second. Tampa fans feigned anger, but deep down, we knew it was all part of the plan. Montreal scored on that power play to take a commanding 2-0 lead in game four. Tampa scored before the end of the period to pull within one.

The Plan Comes to Fruition

In the third period, it was time for the referees' grand plan to take full effect. Less than a minute in, Oliver Kapanen was called for high sticking against Dominic James. Replays clearly show Kapanen's stick catching James up high. But because James didn't react within the required 0.3 seconds, it obviously couldn't have been a high stick. And if it was, then it was definitely embellishment! Possibly both. The rulebook is flexible like that.

Alas, only Kapanen went to the box. The referees must have known that this was basically gifting the game to Tampa Bay. What choice did Montreal possibly have-- kill the penalty? Something they'd already done four times that night and 14 of 17 in the series?

The Lightning scored to tie the game. And of course, the chants of, "Refs, you suck!" rang through the Bell Centre in Montreal. Yes, the refs had orchestrated this comeback. Their plan had come to fruition!

Thanks for Having Our Backs

Late in the period, Tampa would score again (at even strength) to take their first lead of the game. But McCauley and company might have gotten worried that their plan was too obvious. And so, with a one-goal lead and two and a half minutes remaining in regulation, they called Nikita Kucherov for slashing. Luckily for the Bolts, they took advantage of the option to kill a critical penalty with a one-goal lead in the third period! Tampa held on to win by a 3-2 final. On behalf of Lightning fans everywhere, I would like to thank Wes McCauley and his crew for this amazing gift. It was subtle-- so subtle it somehow resulted in almost identical power play production (Bolts going 1/7 and Habs going 1/6)-- but thankfully, we know you have our backs.