How Referee Calls Affected A Rangers Game -- And A History Lesson

As tension builds in the National Hockey League's homestretch, so does one's blood pressure along with conflicting views of officiating.

That was evident last night at The Garden when the game turned in the Panthers favor in what eventually was a 4-2 victory over the Rangers. Two officiating calls affected the final result.

What's more, ye olde hockey bromide worked to a T. The winning team had absolutely no problems with the officiating while the losers beefed about the zebras.

A tripping penalty to New York's Matt Rempe looked legit to the Florida side, since the large Ranger seemed to -- accidentally or otherwise -- quickly thrust out his leg. Down went the Panther and up went the ref's call. Tripping.

That hardly was the Ranger view; which happened to be just the opposite. At the very worst, it was an unconscious, non-deliberate meeting of opposing legs.

Which is exactly how The Maven saw it. No penalty. Granted that it was close and a tough official's decision to make but in this case I disagreed.

Another was it or wasn't it a penalty question came up during a threatening Rangers attack orchestrated by Jonny Brodzinski. From the New York viewpoint, the Rangers forward was illegally hooked by Florida's Kevin Stenlund.

No whistle was blown and a potential Blueshirt attack -- in an extremely close game -- was nullified.

In his post-game presser, coach Peter Laviolette made it clear that he believed a penalty should have been called against the Panthers. As far as anyone knows, neither Florida coach Paul Maurice nor any one of his 20 players disagreed with the non-call.

We all know that in this era of highest-speed-ever-hockey, officiating is more challenging than ever and close calls often will have one team whining while the other is cheering the on-ice officials.

With that in mind, I once asked then Islanders coach Jack Capuano his philosophy about officiating. "My hope," Cappy replied, "is that at the end of the season it all evens out."

Over lunch with Commissioner Gary Bettman -- around that time -- I asked his view of officiating. Without saying a word, he pulled a letter out of an envelope and read a scathing critique of officiating to me. Then, he asked, "Now guess who wrote this?"

I picked out Brian Burke, who -- with the Hartford Whalers -- at that time was the most vocal general manager in the league. "Wrong!" smiled the Commish who showed me the missive.

The letter-complaint was written by Rangers boss Lester Patrick in 1933; the year his Blueshirts won The Stanley Cup.

And with that, the Commissioner smiled once more and picked up the check.

P.S. I applauded his call!