Outrage Erupts After Referees Clearly Hand Panthers Free Goal

Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals was a one-sided affair, with the Florida Panthers taking a 2-1 series lead on the back of a dominant 6-1 performance that saw them destroy the Oilers on the scoreboard and physically as well.

However, there were plenty of complaints about the officiating on social media, with many claiming that the home team had a major advantage, even though there were many penalties dished out to both teams on the night.

One instance has been brought to light on social media over the officials favouring Florida, as one of the officials got in the way of John Klingberg on the boards, sending him to the ice as Sam Reinhart capitalized, beating Stuart Skinner to give the team a commanding lead.

While some were calling it a good play from Aleksander Barkov to pressure Klingberg into this situation, others saw clear bias from the officials, calling it out as a result.

On one hand, it's tough for an official to completely disappear on the play, as they are just as much on the ice as the players are, but given that the play was clearly along the boards, this is something that the official could have quite easily avoided.

While it's highly unlikely that the officials as a group are clearly trying to effect the play on the ice in favour of one team, this is simply a bad look on a play that could have been avoided, and although the Panthers dominated this game 6-1, the Oilers can certainly feel hard done by.