‘I just wish they had been calling it in Game 2’: Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch calls out Stanley Cup Final officiating
Edmonton Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch wasted no time taking aim at the officiating shortly after the team’s 6-1 loss to the Florida Panthers on Monday night.
It was a game that ultimately got ugly – both on the scoreboard and in the penalty box. The two teams combined for 140 penalty minutes, with 122 coming in the third period alone.
“I think the game was out of hand,” he said Monday night shortly after the loss. “I don’t think we would’ve acted or played like that had the game been a one-goal, or two-goal game. I think our guys were just trying to, I don’t know — boys being boys, just trying to make investments for the next game.
“We’ve got some guys who’d love to drop the gloves a little more and get at ‘er a little bit. We’re a big, physical team. We have some skilled guys and I don’t see our skilled guys getting distracted and getting into that. The guys who like it are getting into it.”
Knoblauch also referenced a too-many-men call from Game 2 that led to the Oilers losing. Four minutes into double overtime in Game 2, Nate Schmidt jumped over the boards while Aaron Ekblad skated gingerly to the bench after blocking a shot. The play was not called, and the Panthers would go on to win on a Brad Marchand game-winner.
The comments came after the Oilers got called for too many men in the first period of Game 3.
“I think the referees did an outstanding job tonight, and they even caught the too-many-men penalty in the first, which was too many men. They caught us there. I just wish they had been calling it in Game 2 in overtime.”
Evander Kane didn’t mince words after the game, either.
“They seem to get away with it more than we do,” he said. “It’s tough to find the line — they’re doing just as much stuff as we do. It was 4-4 at the end of it, then it gets out of hand and there seems to be a little more attention to our group.”
The Panthers hold a 2-1 series lead, with action resuming on Thursday night in Sunrise, Florida.
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