TORONTO -- It may be the Stanley Cup playoffs, but everybody still makes mistakes . . . even the referees.
That was painfully obvious in Boston's 4-2, Game 3 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs at Air Canada Centre, where the B's were victimized in the first period by a bogus delay-of-game call that turned into a power play -- and a power-play goal -- for the Leafs.
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It all started with Riley Nash clearing the defensive zone by firing a puck that bounced against the glass and rode up into the stands. The refs conferred, and it became obvious none of them had gotten a good look at the play. They then incorrectly ruled the puck hadn't hit the glass and assessed a delay-of-game penalty on Nash. The refs probably got their first clue they made the wrong call when the mild-mannered Nash got pretty animated on his way to the penalty box.
Seven seconds later, James van Riemsdyk outmuscled Zdeno Chara for a loose puck rebound in front for the game's first goal and Toronto was off and running with its first lead of the series.
There were two-plus periods for the Bruins to get over it and overcome the gift goal handed to the Maple Leafs -- and, indeed, the Bruins fought back to twice the score -- but it still left them peeved that a call like that could be blown in the playoffs.
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"Well, my question was 'Who made the call?' " said coach Bruce Cassidy. "There's no call immediately. . . [When] the ref makes a call immediately, you kind of live with it because it's decisive. So now they get together and you assume they want to make the right call. That's the idea and we get that.
"But . . . clearly they guessed, because it did hit the glass. So they guessed and . . . I don't think you can guess and give somebody a power play.
"I'd prefer [they] not guess and err on the side of caution. And if it happened against us, then I would say the same thing. You've got to be pretty sure it went right out to come that call."
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Given the play's importance in a close game and what's on the line in the postseason, Brad Marchand took it one step further and offered that instances like those should be subject to review, given the technology the NHL has at its fingertips.
"That's tough. It's frustrating. Those are maybe the type of plays that they should review," said Marchand. "Clearly it hits the glass, but it's hockey and it was early in the game, and you've just got to move past it. They're going to make mistakes, we make mistakes . . . that's what hockey is. It's frustrating, but you move on."
While it's true that everybody makes mistakes, it's a pretty big one to award a power play on a penalty that very clearly isn't. Especially since it's easy to prove that it isn't.