As game three of the Eastern Conference Final between the Florida Panthers and New York Rangers gets underway, officials have already begun to exhibit partiality.
While the National Hockey League has long struggled with refereeing, the severity of the issue has increased during the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The play between the Florida Panthers and New York Rangers in the first quarter of game three came to a stop without explanation when Sam Reinhart was knocked down by Jacob Trouba's routine hit, which ended the Rangers' attempt to win a 4 on 2.
Refs stop #NYR with a 4 on 2. No reason for the stoppage.
The on-ice officials had no justification to halt this play. Although Reinhard did fall down, the injury was not life-threatening, and in fact, he wanted to continue playing. However, they refused, stopping the play because of the injury, which clearly cost New York a scoring opportunity and infuriated every player on the Rangers bench.
Although I don't like to criticize the officials, this is among the clearest examples of favoritism you can find. This play should not have been stopped at all.
As the first quarter comes to an end, the score is knotted 2-2.
