NHL analyst calls out massive concern with referees in Oilers Kings series
Photo credit: USA Today Sports
Refereeing around the NHL always seems incredibly inconsistent, but in the Oilers series against the Los Angeles Kings, it's brought incredibly lopsided results.
Already through the first four games of the series, the Oilers and Kings had the highest penalty differential in the NHL - a trend that continued in Game 5.
Oilers analyst calls out referees for lopsided penalty calls in playoffs
Analyst Mark Spector has now called out the fact that the Oilers are the top ranked possession team at even strength these playoffs, and yet rank second last in penalties drawn.
It's an absurd discrepancy that's nearly impossible to be accurate. Especially in last night's game where the Oilers dominated the Kings all night, Edmonton was still the more penalized team.
There were numerous incidents last night where the referees missed obvious calls against the Kings, with the most egregious being Quinton Byfield covering the puck in the crease.
Oilers and Kings have largest penalty differential in NHL playoffs so far
On the total now, the Oilers have the second lowest share of powerplay time in the NHL playoffs this year. It's hard to square that as reflective of the actual penalties on the ice.
In spite of not getting their dominant powerplay unit on the ice, the Oilers have still found a way to roar back in this series and take a 3-2 lead heading back to Edmonton. It speaks to the resilience of the team to push through adversity of bad calls.
Hopefully, they'll be able to keep complaining about the refereeing during another long playoff run this spring.
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 30 | 1027 ANSWERS NHL analyst calls out massive concern with referees in Oilers Kings series Do you think the referees have been fair in the Oilers playoffs series? | ||
| Yes | 87 | 8.5 % |
| No | 940 | 91.5 % |
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