Brad Marchand wasn’t going to put Saturday’s 2-1 loss to the Capitals on the officiating. The Bruins star acknowledged his team needed to be more desperate, needed to execute better, and needed to stop over-passing.
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But Marchand also made it clear that he wasn’t happy with the performance of the referees.
One of the many questionable calls came against Marchand himself early in the game. Marchand was digging at a loose puck in the Washington crease and then got drilled from behind by Evgeny Kuznetsov. The refs did call the crosscheck on Kuznetsov, but they also called Marchand for slashing, alleging that he was whacking at Capitals goalie Darcy Kuemper after the puck was already covered. Replay showed the puck was, in fact, still loose as Marchand was digging.
“I thought the puck was loose. Apparently it wasn’t. I think they had a tough night tonight,” Marchand said bluntly after the game.
Just four seconds later, Charlie Coyle joined him in the penalty box after a soft hooking call. Twenty-four seconds after that, an equally questionable interference call on Hampus Lindholm gave the Capitals a 5-on-3 that resulted in the game’s first goal.
There were more head-scratching calls and no-calls throughout the game. A couple went against the Capitals, like Alex Ovechkin getting called for a high-stick even thought he was getting tripped (by Marchand, in fact) and following through on making a play with the puck.
But there certainly seemed to be more that went against the Bruins. A late hit by Martin Fehervary on Marchand went uncalled. Taylor Hall getting taken down in front of the Washington net didn’t result in a Boston power play either. David Krejci got called for a trip on a play where he got the puck first and the Capitals player was already going down.
Marchand took exception with the inconsistency, something he believes has actually been a problem all season, and around the whole league.
“They called a really, really suspect call on Coyle early in the game,” Marchand said. “If you’re gonna call it like that, then you can’t let some of the stuff go that they let go. That’s part of the problem just this whole year, they’re really inconsistent. They’ll make a call like that, but then Hallsy gets hauled down in front of the net in the second period and there’s nothing. That has nothing to do with the outcome of the game, but they had a tough night.
“Just around the league, either you call everything chintzy like they did on CC and Lindy, or you let it all go,” Marchand added. “It can’t be half and half throughout the game. Guys have no idea what they can and can’t do. But that’s part of it.”