Ovechkin Speaks Out Against Playoff Officiating

[flemingc04]

The Washington Capitals were obviously frustrated by their 5-0 loss to the New York Rangers in Game 7 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series and perhaps no one was more vocal about it than Alexander Ovechkin.

In an interview with Slava Malamud of the Russian newspaper Sport-Express after the game on Monday night, Ovechkin didn't hide his displeasure with the officiating and even took it up to another level.

"I am not saying there was a phone call from (the league), but someone just wanted Game 7," he told the paper.

"For the ratings. You know, the lockout, escrow, the league needs to make profit. I don't know whether the refs were predisposed against us or the league. But to not give obvious penalties (against the Capitals), while for us any little thing was immediately penalized."

Click for full article: http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=423143

Bettman surely won't be happy with his comments as those are some pretty serious allegations he is making. I wonder if/when the league will respond and how they will react. I didn't watch that game (as I watched another disaster instead) or any games in the series as a matter of fact, but a 5-0 loss sounds like the Caps didn't even show up. It's tough to complain about the series officiating when the game 7 wasn't even close.

[ncm7772]

Pleh. Ovi must've forgotten about the charge where he left his feet that had a blind eye turned to it. No trash talk, just saying.

[miscs75]

Such bad and inconsistent officiating this year. The refs didn't even square up guys in the faceoff. Crosby might as well should have just took the faceoff with himself blocking out the opposition every draw. Any one he was squared for, he lost cleanly.

[raydot]

i agree with ovie especially in the last couple games!! refs is just bad you can't allowed that in the NHL best hockey league!! if you call penalty on one team you can't look away when other team gets one.

[ncm7772]

Such bad and inconsistent officiating this year. The refs didn't even square up guys in the faceoff. Crosby might as well should have just took the faceoff with himself blocking out the opposition every draw. Any one he was squared for, he lost cleanly.

Your hatred for Crosby could turn into a debilitating phobia!

[walker066]

Sounds like sour grapes for Ovi. The guy is 2-5 in Game 7's and always finds a way to blame someone else. He had zero points in the final 5 games.

[miscs75]

Your hatred for Crosby could turn into a debilitating phobia!

If the guy didn't make every call against Pittsburgh a temper tantrum, i'd have respect for the guy. Its ok when he "falls" any time he gets touched but when something doesn't go his way, forget about it. I'm just surprised they didn't have audibles for the goals against.

[flemingc04]

I should clarify that while I think Ovechkin is out of line making the serious allegations about the NHL match fixing to create more revenue, the refs need to use the same standards when officiating in the playoffs as they do with the regular season. No player should be left questioning there the thin line is between a non-call and called penalty. In the playoffs we hear commentators say during games how the referees are just letting play continue and then when things get a little too out of hand we here that the refs will likely start calling penalties pretty soon. In many cases, the team that ends up taking the penalty is the one who was the victim of a non-call when the refs decide to let it slide and let the game continue.

With everything said though, it seems like Ovechkin is more so accusing the NHL of wanting games to go late in the series to generate more profit, and one way of helping influence a game's outcome is to not call penalties.

[09232003]

Sounds like sour grapes for Ovi. The guy is 2-5 in Game 7's and always finds a way to blame someone else. He had zero points in the final 5 games.

thats exactly what it is, ovechkin has done nothing for his team in playoffs since he came into NHL, first round exit once again and played terrible in the series against NYR

now h is going to play for russia in the worlds, good luck

[ncm7772]

If the guy didn't make every call against Pittsburgh a temper tantrum, i'd have respect for the guy. Its ok when he "falls" any time he gets touched but when something doesn't go his way, forget about it. I'm just surprised they didn't have audibles for the goals against.

Wow, worse than I thought!

Chill man, this ain't even real life.