Game 5 of the Stanley Cup finals was shaping up to be an all-time classic. You had the best teams in hockey, knocking it out to move one game closer to having their names on the cup forever.  It was by all counts an excellent hockey game. But instead of being decided by skill the refs, who all postseason have been determined to give college basketball refs a run for their money as the worst in sports, decided it should be up to them to determine a winner.

Look I am not one to usually blame the refs for a loss. In this case, though this no call absolutely change the dynamics of the game.

Apparently the Bozak trip on Acciari didn't post so pic.twitter.com/zHv8JAaIJr

— Board Man Gets Paid (@cjzero) June 7, 2019

This is utterly ridiculous that the ref, who is staring right at the play doesn’t blow his whistle for a trip. Even Bozak knows what he did because he immediately turns around, ready to protest the call.

This play ultimately gave the Blues the 2-0 lead and while the Bruins would eventually score. This was one of those great games that had a razor-thin thin margin for error and that no-call changed the course of it.

Bruce Cassidy summed it up perfectly:

Cassidy on the officials

"The narrative changed after game 3 it was a complain put forth by the opposition and it just seems to have changed everything. The non-call on Acciari….it was blatant, big effect on the game." #NHLBruins #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/s1s30su2s1

— Chad Amaral (@Chad_Amaral) June 7, 2019

 

He even went on to say, “I’m a fan of the game. This is the National Hockey League, It’s getting a black eye with their officiating this playoff.”.

Now obviously this no call is getting all the attention and the officiating was a disaster all night but let’s not let the league forget about another outrageous no call with the hit to Marcus Johansson head.

Marcus Johansson has returned to the ice after taking this hit from Ivan Barbashev #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/zr1dSj5k0D

— NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSBoston) June 7, 2019

This is the exact type of hit they are trying to get out of the game, but once again the refs were nowhere to be found. The officiating was so bad that it seems everyone has forgotten this play even happened. Lucky this is something the league can look at afterward and should! This not only is a trash move incredibly dangerous.  The league needs to come down hard on this one. It’s unacceptable and extremely fortunate it didn’t cause serious injury to Johansson.

At the end of the day, the Bruins just need to play better, but this game will, unfortunately, go in the books as being overshadowed by bad officiating. We have one, potentially two more games to turn this ship around. I don’t want to see this great sport get hijacked by godawful officiating so I can only hope the NHL cleans it up. We are on to game 6 and will hopefully use this as motivation. Boston vs. World… Go, Bruins!

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