The Boston Bruins can once again point to poor officiating as one of the reasons they lost a playoff game to the Tampa Bay Lightning, and head coach Bruce Cassidy has no problem calling attention to how lopsided things have been.
Boston was leading Tampa 3-2 midway through the third period in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals Friday night when Charlie McAvoy was dragged down by Nikita Kucherov behind his own net. No whistle was blown, and Steven Stamkos scored the tying goal.
Brutal night of referring in Boston. Rask had no chance on Kucherov and Stankos bombs. pic.twitter.com/BJ80J96jxC
— Bucci Mane (@Buccigross) May 5, 2018
It looked like Kucherov got away with a blatant hold, but the officials stuck with the theme of the series by not giving the Bruins the call. Boston went on to lose in overtime, and head coach Cassidy ripped the officiating crew after the game.
[We] seem to be going down this road a lot lately in these things, about the non-calls,” Cassidy said, via Joe Haggerty of NBC Sports Boston. “It looked like [Kucherov] reached around and pulled him down. Charlie’s a strong guy, but it wasn’t called, and it’s in our net, and that’s that. There was nothing you can do about it after[ward]. You’ve got to keep playing, and we did, but they made the first play in overtime.”
The players had very little to say about it, but Cassidy says he wouldn’t blame them if they were just as aggravated.
“You’d have to ask the players [how hard it is not to dwell on blown calls]. We tell them not to, but we’re human beings. It’s game after game after game. At the end of the day, you’ve got to find a way to play through it.”
There have been several missed calls throughout the series that have gone in favor of the Lightning. Perhaps the most egregious came in Game 2, when Brad Marchand had a breakaway and probably should have been awarded a penalty shot. There was also a high stick missed on Zdeno Chara in Game 3.
Nevertheless, the Bruins now trail the Lightning 3-1. Sometimes you have to overcome bad officiating, and Boston has not done a good job of that this postseason.
