On Wednesday May 29, in the Detroit vs Chicago, with 1:49 left in the 3rd period, referee Stephen Walkom called coincidental minor penalties against Detroit's Kyle Quincey and Chicago's Brandon Saad. Just seconds after Walkom blew his whistle and called the penalties. Due to the crowd, nobody else on the ice hear the whistle as Niklas Hjalmarsson netted the puck, only to have it called back. Many sports critics, players and the even the most casual of fans stormed Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites to complain at what they saw to be a one sided fight called as a two, and on top of it, a possible game-winning goal called back.
Now as a ref myself, and knowing the reasonability of the back referee, Walkom made the correct call. When there are coincidental penalties there are turning into fighting, the ref is supposed to blow the play down regardless of what is going on where the puck is. And also, early in the game, Valtteri Filppula of the Red Wings was forced to leave the game due to an ankle injury after getting into a little scrum with Andrew Shaw in front of the benches. The last thing the referee's want is another injury to happen after a fight in front the bench, thus Walkom wanting to blow it deadas quick as possible.
With 3:35 into overtime, Brent Seabrook scored on Jimmy Howard to give Chicago the 1-0 series lead. This may have been a blessing in disguise for both Walkom and the NHL itself. Had Detroit won, an even bigger controversy would have surfaced. What do you think?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCXn5E53AaQ
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