Mike Sullivan was visibly unhappy with the officials in the Pittsburgh Penguins most recent overtime loss.
People don’t go to sporting events to watch the referees, but that’s exactly what it felt like when the Pittsburgh Penguins visited the Ottawa Senators in the first half of a home-and-home contest.
The Penguins and Senators combined for a total of 28 penalty minutes and the two teams accumulated six power play goals.
The Senators walked away with an overtime win and scored four of those six power play goals, but some of the calls from the men in stripes were infuriating.
Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan was among those upset with the officiating and he showed it behind the bench.
Following the game, Sullivan voiced his displeasure, saying the game was hard to assess from his standpoint.
“It’s pretty tough to assess a game like that when half of the game is special teams,” Sullivan said. “There was no flow, there was no 5-on-5. It was ridiculous.”
It’s not like the Penguins' players were perfect, there was an issue with discipline on their part.
Jeff Carter took a four-minute penalty that the Senators capitalized to the fullest on with a pair of goals.
Bryan Rust took two minutes for hooking but was dinged for another two for unsportsmanlike conduct when he insisted to the official that it was a dive.
For what it’s worth, Rust hooked Tim Stutzle and Stutzle has grown a reputation for diving ever since breaking into the NHL, so maybe Rust had a point.
“Let’s just say I questioned a fair amount of the calls.” Sullivan said.
Regardless of a good or bad call from the refs, the Penguins needed to be much better on the penalty kill.
Four of the Senators five goals came from the man advantage and an overtime loss could have easily been avoided.
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