Hurricanes Coach Calls Out Refs After Game 3 Loss

Regardless of what team you are cheering for these Stanley Cup Playoffs, the consensus around the hockey world is the officiating during this postseason has been a joke. No consistency throughout any of the rounds and some absolute blown calls when the games matter most. It's unfortunate really, and during Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final, the bad officiating poked it's ugly head into the mix.

The refs missed a high stick in the dying seconds of the game and Carolina's head coach Rod Brind'Amour wasn't shy to point it out after the game:

The stick to the face, I thought he called. He stopped the play. Whatever, that's not the difference. We've gotta get more than one, anyway. But that adds to the frustration in the game. No doubt about it, right? Especially when they stop the play. I don't understand that. You stop it because you saw a high stick. Why are you stopping the play then? I don't know. No explanation, just move on. I could go on all day on that. We get three knick-knack penalties on sticks to the hand, one guy drops his stick on it. I was told early in the series that that's not necessarily a penalty. If it hits his hands - but that just taps his stick, and (he) lets it go. It's not really a penalty. It wasn't called against us in the first or second round.

Here's the play Brind'Amour was referring to. Should this have been called?

Gostisbehere got caught in the shield by Reinhart's stick, tried to sell it a little bit#TimeToHunt | #LetsGoCanes pic.twitter.com/c0kOsEEr2r
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights (@HockeyDaily365) May 23, 2023