The Montreal Canadiens put up a valiant fight against the New York Rangers on Saturday night, but ultimately, the Rangers would score in the dying seconds, picking up a much needed 4-3 victory to end a five-game losing skid.
Unfortunately, once again in the NHL, officiating has become a major topic, this time with veteran Joel Armia directly calling out the NHL for a missed call on the play that led to the Rangers game winning goal.
When looking at the video replay of the play in question, Armia is unquestionably tripped, and after officials have missed at least two or three game changing calls in the last week, this is yet another major critique of the officials.
During the play, Armia was clearly tripped right in front of the official, and unfortunately for Montreal, it was that player that ultimately came through with the final pass on the GWG.
Whether or not Armia would have stopped this play from happening can not be guaranteed, but with the Rangers picking up the clear advantage with Armia on the ice, it's easy to see where the frustration comes from.
Shots on goal in this matchup were tied at 28 for each team, with Sam Montembeault allowing the goal in the final minute to lose the game, with the team likely rueing some missed chances down the stretch, as mentioned by Armia who admitted the team needs to be better.
Head Coach Martin St-Louis disagreed however, in his angry and short post-game interview.
Ultimately though, the officiating in the NHL needs to be much better, as Canadian teams seem to have a gripe with Gary Bettman and the officiating every single night as of late, with this being yet another example of an obvious missed call.
G | A | PTS | ||
Matthew Tkachuk | 2 | 2 | 4 | |
Nathan MacKinnon | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
Jordan Kyrou | 2 | - | 2 | |
Lucas Raymond | 2 | - | 2 | |
Tage Thompson | 2 | - | 2 | |
Yanni Gourde | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Dylan Holloway | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Evgeni Malkin | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Martin Necas | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Logan O'Connor | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Jaden Schwartz | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Nick Suzuki | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Robert Thomas | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Mikael Backlund | - | 2 | 2 | |
Matthew Beniers | - | 2 | 2 | |
Jesper Boqvist | - | 2 | 2 | |
Calvin de Haan | - | 2 | 2 | |
Simon Edvinsson | - | 2 | 2 | |
Blake Lizotte | - | 2 | 2 | |
Scott Perunovich | - | 2 | 2 | |
Complete stats |
STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Wild | 25 | 17 | 4 | 4 | 38 | |
Capitals | 25 | 17 | 6 | 2 | 36 | |
Jets | 26 | 18 | 8 | - | 36 | |
Devils | 28 | 17 | 9 | 2 | 36 | |
Golden Knights | 26 | 16 | 7 | 3 | 35 | |
Hurricanes | 25 | 16 | 8 | 1 | 33 | |
Stars | 24 | 16 | 8 | - | 32 | |
Maple Leafs | 24 | 15 | 7 | 2 | 32 | |
Panthers | 26 | 15 | 9 | 2 | 32 | |
Kings | 25 | 14 | 8 | 3 | 31 | |
Conference | Cumulative |