Yes let’s use a little common sense.
Florida is dominating us with puck possession. When do the vast majority of penalties happen? They happen to the defensive team in the defensive zone the vast majority of the time.
Offensive zone penalties are rare because the person possessing the puck is unlikely to commit a penalty.
When you are getting dominated 2:1 in puck possession and shots then it is likely penalties will reflect that as well.
You can use all the common sense and expected stats you’d like, but I have actually watched the series and I have seen the Panthers get away with a significant amount more penalties than the Bruins have through four games. If you don’t agree with that statement then this back and forth is useless.
I understand your perspective of more puck possession usually equals more power plays, but it’s not a guarantee (I mean you could even use examples of teams that are successful in the offensive zone by being really good at interference, hooking, holding, slashing, etc.), and it doesn’t explain it in this series when you have the second most penalized team in the league (who is still doing their same, if not more, clown shit as the regular season) getting half the penalties as the Bruins. Especially when you have tons of examples of game and series altering missed calls — from Bennet’s hit on Marchand, to the no GI goal, to smaller things like ketchup punching Swayman on his first shift of the game yet actually drawing a penalty.
This is when I really started questioning my NHL fandom, and dialed back my time spent watching considerably:
But this series vs Florida - specifically the Marchand non-call/subsequent review from Toronto and the allowed Bennett goal last night - has pushed me off the cliff. I no longer consider myself a fan of NHL hockey. I'll still watch the playoffs from time to time, but (as was the case this season) I will not be watching a second of the regular season moving forward. Horrific product.
Edit to add: the Tim Peel incident confirming what we all knew/know is what really solidifies it for me.
This really was the beginning of the end for me. I’ve said it multiple times on here but I don’t mind saying it every chance I get.
After Berube complained to the media/league about officiating at the halfway point in the series, the Blues received 50% less penalties for the remainder of the series.
If you think it was just a coincidence, literally the exact same thing I just described happened in both the Finals against the Bruins and Conference Finals against the Sharks.
Fun fact about those Blues is they were the second least penalized Stanley Cup champ (beaten only by the dominant short season Hawks team) as far back as nhl.com tracks those stats — which is like the 70s or something last time I checked. If you watched the Blues that year you would know how crazy that record is.
I’ve never said there’s some conspiracy on the league deciding who they want to win, but what I have always said is that NHL officials are the worst officials in all major sports. They are utterly and completely incompetent. They are also human and have conscious and subconscious biases towards certain players and maybe even teams. And the main point is that they are 110% very easily influenced, as shown back to back in 2019.
But real hockey fans don’t complain about officiating because that makes you a baby, and that’s why officiating has continued to get better and better year over year for a few decades… oh wait…
I would like your perspective on something since you usually have a differing view/opinion from mine but I am genuinely curious.
What’s the point of the mid series press conference by Sweeney. I think we can all agree it’s extremely uncharacteristic of a GM to have a middle of a series press conference to address the media/league/ref (whatever you want to call it).
Seems like something that is usually done in the end of the year press conference yet they did it before.
Wondering from your perspective on why since it is so incredibly rare.
2019 Craig Berube disagrees with you.
