If you ask the Toronto Maple Leafs : it wasn’t supposed to be this way. The Tampa Bay Lightning built a 3-0 lead in the first period and humiliated the Maple Leafs 7-3 in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series on Tuesday.
Despite the Maple Leafs coming out flat and Ilya Samsonov allowing six goals on 29 shots before getting replaced by Joseph Woll to start the third period, fans are still focused on the potential officiating scandal that emerged ahead of the contest yesterday.
Referee Wes McCauley called Game 1 action, but there appears to be a conflict of interest. Most of us remember the David Frost and Mike Danton scandal, right? David Frost was a former junior coach turned NHL player agent who was accused of sexually assaulting a number of underage hockey players, including Danton. Frost was acquitted of the charges and Danton was subsequently arrested and convicted for conspiring to murder Frost.
Here is where McCauley comes in: he and Frost are brothers-in law and are reportedly very close. On the other side, Danton and Keefe are lifelong friends. The two grew up playing hockey together and were teammates on a junior team coached by Frost when the alleged abuse took place. Fast forward to Danton’s trial and it was Keefe who was on the stand testifying against Frost.
You see what we mean?
Well, several fans saw exactly what we were pointing to and took on social media to call out the officiating scandal in Toronto:
Captain John Tavares even appeared to blame the referees for the Game 1 loss and all the penalties than landed he and his teammates in the box.
On broadcast, former NHLer Chris Chelios called it “Absolutely terrible officiating. Worst in a while.”
The Maple Leafs host the Lightning for Game 2 on Thursday. Let’s see how this one goes…
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