Referee claims he can't call a penalty because the period was over
The referee in the Pittsburgh versus Vancouver game made a real error last night. With just five minuets to play in the second period, Brian Dumoulin attempted to skate the puck out of his own end, and he was clearly tripped by Jack Studnicka. Everyone in the whole building saw it was a tripping infraction, including the referee. Rather than call a penalty, the referee Gord Dwyer pointed to the scoreboard clock and said the period was over. Watch the replay below.
Since when is tripping not a penalty? This was clearly a mistake by Dwyer. Pittsburgh was already winning 5-3 but this was a missed call. A penalty should have been called and Pittsburgh should have had a power play to start the third period. On top of that, when Dumoulin was tripped there was still three seconds remaining on the clock.
Sure, referees miss calls in games from time to time. The game is played at tremendous speed, so it is difficult to catch every infraction. In this instance, the non-penalty call seemed like the ref didn't feel like calling a penalty or maybe he was giving the Canucks a break due to the score. Regardless this was a missed called.
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Should the NHL make referees available to discuss missed calls? | ||
| Yes, it would create accountability | 94 | 84.7 % |
| No, it's better to not have them speak | 17 | 15.3 % |
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