The World According to Mitch

Last night I watched Game 4 of the Montreal-Vegas series. It is truly a shame that the referees are so biased against Montreal, but that is not really new.

You think I am being petty and making excuses for our loss? I give huge credit to Las Vegas for playing their hearts out. I think Robin Lehner was fabulous in nets. I also think they deserved to lose. Montreal was the better team, and had the officiating been honest – had the shot that was trapped under Lehner’s glove but was clearly over the line been ruled a goal, had Las Vegas taken penalties for their slashing, boarding, and even punching Suzuki in the face, and had the tripping on a breakaway been called as a penalty or even a penalty shot – then the game would never have gone into overtime. The game would have been won in regulation by the Habs.

Of course, it was not easy to see that the referees favoured Las Vegas over the past two games. How could you make such a determination, when a Golden Knight player put his high stick into Corey Perry’s face right in front of the referee, resulting in Perry leaving the ice with a bloody face and needing nine stitches, and the referee does not even call a penalty? How can you make that determination when every time a Montreal player looked crossly at a Las Vegas player he was penalized, but when a Vegas player trips a Montreal player on a breakaway toward the net, the attitude is ‘play on.’

I have been a hockey fan for my entire life and I love the game. Referees should play a big part in keeping the game flowing and safe. When bad officiating affects the results of a game, it is time for them to be fired.

#GoHabsGo