The Montreal Canadiens survived a late scare against the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday night, securing back-to-back wins for the first time this season. A sleepy third period for both teams seemed to lull them into a false sense of security, and two quick goals from the Flyers in the dying minutes threatened to erase the 4-1 lead the Habs had built. It was a tense end to an otherwise strong game from the visiting team.
And yet, perhaps the most notable moment of the game came from a completely ridiculous call made by the officials.
There is no hyperbole necessary here, this was one of the most egregiously bad calls I’ve seen in a long time. Sean Couturier drops his gloves first, and while he clearly doesn’t seem that interested in the fight, he’s engaged with Arber Xhekaj. Nick Seeler involves himself to get Couturier out of it, and the officials inexplicably chose to only penalize Xhekaj out of all this.
This didn’t end up hurting the Canadiens, but that is completely irrelevant. It is imperative that this gets talked about more, because it speaks to the level of bias that NHL officials bring to the game, particularly against certain players. For a long time, their whipping boy in Montreal was Brendan Gallagher, but they appear to have moved on to a much larger target. There was absolutely no reason for Xhekaj to be the only player taken from that scrum, and frankly, there was a case for Seeler to be thrown out of the game entirely.
I don’t feel that Seeler’s actions quite warranted an ejection, but the point is that a strict application of the rules would provide for it. Not only did these officials forego that discretion, they awarded the Flyers a power play. At bare minimum, this should have been evened up with two minutes against Seeler. Realistically, since Couturier was engaged, it should have been a power play for the Habs. The decision to only take one of the three players involved is extremely telling as to how these officials choose to selectively apply the rules.
Why did they go the way they did on the ice? There is only one plausible answer, and that is the reputation of the player they chose to penalize. They’re making a decision based almost exclusively on who the player is, and not what actually happened on the ice. It’s the definition of bias, and these officials should be reprimanded. They’re not there to police specific players, they are there – perhaps ostensibly – to ensure that a fair game is played.
Of course, Gary Bettman’s NHL will never let us know if they are reprimanded, nor will we ever hear the officials’ side of the story.
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