Colorado Avalanche Get Questionable Officiating in Playoffs

The Colorado Avalanche are going to have to make their own luck — the NHL officials aren’t going to give them any breaks. Quite the opposite.

The Colorado Avalanche did not lose Game 1 or Game 2 of the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs because of bad officiating. However, bad officiating certainly didn’t help their cause.

It’s a poorly kept secret that calls go the way of good teams. After last year’s miraculous run to the Stanley Cup Finals, and this year’s win of the Presidents’ Trophy, the Nashville Predators are considered a good team.

The Colorado Avalanche, on the other hand, are the upstart underdogs. They’re not going to see a lot of questionable calls go their way. So far in this series, though, they’ve had some officiating that was definitely against them.

Here’s a good example. Watch the superb head snap executed by Ryan Ellis:

As someone in the comments mentioned, obviously his beard is spring-loaded. The head snap resulted in a penalty on Sven Andrighetto.

Here’s an example of P.K. Subban taking out Tyson Barrie:

That “wonderful effort,” by the way is what’s known as tripping. Here’s the initial rule, per the NHL handbook:

"“A minor penalty shall be imposed on any player who shall place his stick or any portion of his body in such a manner that it shall cause his opponent to trip and fall.”"

I think we can all agree that the entire body would probably fall under “any portion of his body.” However, in case there was any doubt, the NHL amended the rule to start the 2014-15 season:

"“The rule relating to “Tripping” will be revised to specifically provide that a two minute minor penalty will be assessed when a defending player “dives” and trips an attacking player with his body/arm/shoulder, regardless of whether the defending player is able to make initial contact with the puck.”"

In other words, Subban executed textbook tripping, but no call was made. I mean, I guess it was difficult to see a 6-foot, 220-pound player wearing bright yellow send a 5-foot-10, 190-pound player flying into the air by taking his legs out right in front of the goal crease.

That non-call, by the way, resulted in a goal on the other end of the ice that put the Predators up 3-1 late in the second period.

Let’s put the two together — PK Subban and the head snap:

Matthew Nieto got the only penalty out of this whole sequence, even though Pekka Rinne whacks him in the head with his big goalie glove and Subban embellishes like he’s a soccer player.

We can’t downplay how important the head snap is. Remember, the lack of head snap was given by the Department of Player “Safety” as the

rationale

for not giving supplemental discipline of Ryan Johansen’s elbow to Tyson Barrie’s head:

Johansen didn’t even get an in-game penalty, much less the supplemental discipline.

Something I’ve learned from this playoff series, is you’ve got to be a good actor to get enough calls out of the referees. While Austin Watson did get an embellishment penalty in Game 2, that’s still plenty of penalties they otherwise drew with their acting — and Watson still took down Mark Barberio even though he embellished.

Barrie has also learned something else — you take a chance at hitting opponents:

"“Maybe you take some runs at guys.”"

I don’t think he meant that as a threat so much as a strategy that has been working for the Predators.

Next: Avs Leaders Preparing for the Playoffs

So, yeah, maybe the Colorado Avalanche take a few runs at guys, and maybe they snap their head back like they’re Tawny Kitaen in a Whitesnake video. Anything to get an edge in the playoffs.