Don’t blame referees for San Jose Sharks beating Vegas Golden Knights

The San Jose Sharks and Vegas Golden Knights faced off in an epic Game 7 in San Jose Tuesday night, and it certainly delivered on drama. Did the referees have too much of a say in things, though?

That Game 7 between the Vegas Golden Knights and San Jose Sharks was something, wasn’t it? A comeback for the ages, back and forth fire-wagon hockey, a last-minute tying goal, sudden death overtime, winner advances loser goes home, Stanley Cup Playoffs elimination game between Vegas and San Jose had it all. It wasn’t without a controversial call from the referees, of course.

Here’s the play by play details of what happened. Vegas was up 3-0 with 10:54 to go in the third period. San Jose was playing reasonably well, but a loose rebound, a goal that was possibly high-sticked in was not overturned, and a weak five-hole goal gave Vegas what looked like all they needed to advance to a second-round date with the Colorado Avalanche.

The teams lined up for a faceoff deep in the Vegas zone between Cody Eakin and Joe Pavelski. Pavelski won the draw, only to get trucked by Eakin, then finished off (inadvertently) by Paul Stastny, who was skating by.

San Jose’s captain was motionless and bleeding on the ice as the refs blew the whistle to kill the play. Eakin was served a five minute major and game misconduct for the hit, as Pavelski was aided off the ice. Here’s a video of the call, judge for yourself what happened.

What happened next is the stuff movies are made of. The Sharks rallied behind their fallen comrade to score four goals during the ensuing power play and everything changed. Four goals on a major penalty happened just twice before in hockey history, and now we have the first occurrence in playoff history.

Vegas would tie the game late and fans got the overtime this game needed. After 18 minutes of back and forth action, unlikely Sharks hero Barclay Goodrow sealed the deal and completed the comeback with his overtime heroics.

But let’s rewind back to the penalty call. Hindsight is 20/20. It’s easy to second guess these calls after looking at the instant replay. But what the referees are judging the call in is just what they see out there. They saw Eakin charge in the direction of Pavelski, make contact, and Pavelski hitting the ice and staying there.

Once he hit the ice and didn’t get up, the referee put his arm up. They deemed the play dangerous and gave a major penalty accordingly. At the time, I was wondering if Eakin would be suspended, until I saw a replay.

The refs don’t have that luxury of a replay at this time. They call the penalty as they see it. When we first saw the penalty, we all thought it was worthy of five and game. So did the referees when they saw Pavelski lying on the ice. However, now that we can see the replay, it may not have been deserving more than a cross-checking minor.

Golden Knights Jon Marchessault had this to say when interviewed after the game.

"“Seriously, what is that? So disappointed. They’re trying to get involved in the game. The game’s not even close. Call a two [-minute penalty], but a five for something you don’t even see and just call the outcome? It’s a f—ing joke. It’s embarrassing.”"

Clearly he wasn’t happy with the call, and frankly, I don’t blame him. Considering that it looked to him like the refs based the call on the injury to Pavelski and not the action of Eakin, he has a beef. I agree with him. The referee has to make the call on the action and not the result.

But here’s the thing – the referee isn’t going to change his call after it’s made. Once the puck drops, you have to kill that penalty. The Vegas penalty kill broke down quickly, and the flood gates opened. Blame the referee all you want, but you have to play the hand you’re dealt. Vegas has to kill that penalty. Four goals allowed in four minutes in unacceptable no matter the circumstances.

Let’s rewind back seven years to Game Six of the Stanley Cup Finals between New Jersey and Los Angeles. The Kings took a 3-0 series lead on the Devils, but the scrappy Devils were climbing back into the series and had momentum coming into the game. Midway through the first, this happens:

Steve Bernier boarded Rob Scuderi and got called for a five minute major. The Kings would score three goals on this major en route to a 6-1 win and the first Cup in Kings history.

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Now, I’m a Devils fan, and I do have a little bias toward this, but despite this play looking bad, I don’t think this was worthy of a five minute major. Two minutes? Sure. It’s boarding by the book. Let the Devils kill a minor (they had statistically the best PK of all time that season, teetering on 90%), and move on. But the major was called, and the Kings took it and ran away with it.

Who can the Devils and their fans blame for this? Bernier? Yeah, it’s easy to blame him for not letting up on the hit, and deserved some kind of penalty. But if we are using the opinion of it being a minor, it’s nothing out of the ordinary. Do we blame the ref? You can, because you disagree with the call. But ultimately, the call is what it is, and they had to kill that penalty, which they didn’t. It cost them the game. So we blame the Devils PK.

Coming back to 2019, the same conclusion can be drawn from this. A call that we can all agree was questionable as a major but certain as a penalty of some kind. A deluge of goals on the ensuing power play. The game-changing shape on the heels of that particular sequence. The team who committed the penalty losing all momentum and losing the game and series.

The Knights scored the tying goal with just 47 seconds left in the game. They had multiple chances in OT to erase all that noise. It didn’t happen. You can’t blame the refs for that. You can blame the referee for making the call that sent it there, but if you kill that penalty, you’re not there to begin with.

Blaming the referee is just low hanging fruit. The call may not have been worthy of a five and game, and the Knights have a gripe. But to put the blame squarely on the referee is wrong. Vegas has to kill that penalty. Even giving up just one goal, they’re set up for the rest of the game. But four goals on a major penalty, something that happened just twice before in history? No one to blame but the PK.