Maple Leafs May Have Drawn Short Straw With Officials For Game 4 Against Senators
Photo credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images
With an opportunity to advance to the second round Saturday night, the Maple Leafs may have to battle the officiating as well as the Senators throughout Game 4.
After the Senators complained about officiating in Game 1 and Game 2, they certainly benefited from calls during Game 3. The first being Matthew Knies get called for cross-checking at the end of the first period for delivering three strong ones to the back of Ridly Greig while Thomas Chabot did not get called for delivering four cross-checks to Knies at the same time.
The second instance involved Brady Tkachuk putting on a masterclass diving performance, which was followed up by followed up by a herculean dive by their Olympic diver Tim Stutzle in the third period.
Heading into Game 4, the Leafs will have to be even more careful with their engagement as Peter MacDougall and Jean Hebert were named as the officials for Saturday's game.
MacDougall has officiated just five career playoff games which mean he may feel uncomfortable making calls and defer to the more experienced Herbert. Not only will the Leafs have to deal with the playoff inexperience of MacDougall, but during the regular season the home team win percentage for both officials averaged 66 percent with only an average of 48.5 percent of penalties being called on the home team.
The Leafs have done their best to stay out of the extracurriculars through three games, but will have to be on their best behaviour if they want to end the series Saturday night.
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 26 | 2700 ANSWERS Maple Leafs May Have Drawn Short Straw With Officials For Game 4 Against Senators Has the officiating been largely very good this series? | ||
| Yes | 1039 | 38.5 % |
| No | 1661 | 61.5 % |
| List of polls | ||
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