Cam Neely isn’t a fan of the current state of NHL officiating
Some 10 days after the Bruins’ season ended, the sting of some poor and questionable officiating in the playoffs still irritates club president Cam Neely.
“I think it does need to be addressed,’’ said Neely, chatting in a scrum with reporters Thursday following team ownership’s annual end-of-season press conference at TD Garden. “The game’s gotten faster and there was a lot great, exciting matchups in the playoffs. And a lot of the talk — not just our series, but in other series — was the officiating.’’
What disappointed Neely most, he said, was the critical non-call in Game 4, in which Nikita Kucherov clearly interfered with a puckhandling Charlie McAvoy with the Bruins holding a 3-2 lead. Kucherov forced the puck away from McAvoy, setting up a Steven Stamkos laser shot from the right wing circle that tied it. The Lightning won it in overtime to take a 3-1 series lead.
“I felt like we should be going back for Game 5 [in Tampa] tied, 2-2,’’ said Neely, his Bruins ultimately rubbed out in five games. “And that’s a whole different mindset than going down there, 3-1. You can say all you want, ‘Let’s just focus on one game.’ But as a player you really look at the big picture, and you say, ‘Man, we’ve got to win three in a row against this team.’ It’s a lot different mindset.
“How they don’t make that call … we are up, 3-2, with seven minutes to go. Now we should be going on the power play. Whether we score or not, it might chew up two minutes of the game and we have a different mindset going down to Tampa. It’s the non-calls that really frustrated me the most.’’
Neely then ticked off a few, including a slash at Brad Marchand’s hands late in Game 2, on a breakaway that could have brought the tying goal; a Kevan Miller boarding call; a hit from behind on David Pastrnak that went unpenalized.
“Tough to take,’’ said Neely.
As for a remedy, if there is one, Neely is among the many without an answer. Across the league, carping about calls and non-calls has been a constant this postseason.
“It is something the league has to look at,’’ Neely said. “They have to go back and look at all the games, and I know they do that after every game — but I think they really need to take a hard look at what’s happening with the refereeing. Because the game’s gotten that much faster, are the referees keeping up with the pace of the game? It’s fast out there.’’
Bruins winger Brad Marchand became focus of conversation because of his active tongue, which he swiped against Toronto’s Leo Komarov in Round 1 and then Tampa’s Ryan Callahan in Round 2. Marchand was not penalized in either instance, but was admonished for it by the league following the latter episode, informed by NHL vice president Colin Campbell that he could be fined and/or suspended if he did it again.
“Brad should be contrite,’’ Neely said during the formal presser, for which he was joined by club owner Jeremy Jacobs and his son, Charlie Jacobs. “He was spoken to — I don’t want to go into the details — but he understands how it put a negative focus on him, his family, the organization, his teammates, coaching staff.’’
“I saw humor in it,’’ said the senior Jacobs, noting how he first felt about Marchand’s antics. “Then I thought, as it went along, it got pretty silly and not productive towards the team. This is a player that I can only think of 30 other teams that would love to have him, so there is a margin you give him, but I think he used up that margin.’’
