With one final chance to get a win on home ice before heading back on the road, the Montreal Canadiens took on the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night. The Wild played a frustratingly tight checking game, one that saw them block a mountain of shots and frustrate the Habs en route to a 4-0 victory. Marc-André Fleury was triumphant in his final game in front of a Québécois crowd, and the Habs will have to find a way to get back on track during the dreaded California road swing.
Fleury received a touching ovation from the Bell Centre faithful, while some other folks on the ice received their attention for all the wrong reasons. I am referring of course to the officials, who essentially refused to call anything against Minnesota until the game was all but over.
Exhibit A came early in the game. Two nearly identical plays that somehow drew completely opposite reactions from the officials.
So they have money on the Wild, or what? https://t.co/6peF5nHeXi pic.twitter.com/7bPP9B1zF6
— Matt Drake (@DrakeMT) January 31, 2025
It is entirely possible that Josh Anderson is going down a little easy as Marco Rossi did, but that’s not the point. Either they’re both dives, both trips, or both dives and trips. You cannot have one be a penalty, and the other be nothing. You do that, it lends itself to the idea that you’re only looking at one team.
Exhibit B is a little more cut and dry. It is most certainly against the rules to run over an opposing player – who has not touched the puck whatsoever – as they try to stay onside at the offensive blue line.
Are we calling interference for running over Caufield, who never touched the puck, at the offensive blue line?
— Matt Drake (@DrakeMT) January 31, 2025
NOPE! pic.twitter.com/ndEzW6Y2yR
In a parallel universe where officials do press conferences, I’d love to see how this non-call is explained away. This is as clear as interference can be, and happens right near the puck carrier, so there can be no excuse of it not being seen.
Exhibit C is maddening. There is no turn, it is numbers the entire way, and one of the easiest boarding calls you should be able to make in your officiating career.
Patrik Laine gets hit from behind, and you guessed it! No call!!
— Matt Drake (@DrakeMT) January 31, 2025
All he can do is throw a little trip back because the officials have decided we're not doing our jobs tonight. pic.twitter.com/tZdpogXB3G
Yes, there should technically be a tripping call against Patrik Laine here as well, but you can see him look at the ref before he trips his foe. I don’t think he does that if he knows an opportunity is coming, but he makes eye contact with an official refusing to call one of the most obvious penalties of the night. The frustration was palpable, and I think these officials were lucky that the game didn’t turn violent.
Because I know I’ll be accused of saying this even though I haven’t – no, I do not think that officiating is what cost the Montreal Canadiens this game. Frankly, I think Minnesota’s textbook shot blocking was a bigger factor. They had someone in almost every shooting lane, and on the rare times they didn’t, the Habs were missing the net more than you’d like to see. I do think that a properly called game would have given them a better chance, but the defensive structure and shot blocking of Minnesota may have shut them out on the power play anyways. They deserve their credit for that.
But that doesn’t exonerate the officials. The league will fine players and coaches for talking about the officiating, so you won’t hear it from them, but you could see it on the faces of the Montreal Canadiens last night. They were exasperated, and with good reason, as this completed a three-game run where a grand total of two penalties were called on their opposition.
Officiating doesn’t have to be the reason they lost for it to be called out. Again, they may have lost even with calls going their way last night, but it would have been nice to find out exactly how they’d have fared with proper officiating.
Click the play button below to listen to your full Bottom Six Minutes, also available wherever you get your podcasts. We’ll be back on Sunday afternoon, when the Habs will start their California road trip against the Anaheim Ducks.
