The referees for tonight’s Eastern Conference quarterfinal Game 7 between the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers will be Dan O’Rourke (#9) and Chris Rooney (#5).
Working the lines will be “Life Of” Brian Murphy (#93) and “Mean” Jean Morin (#97).
Interesting storyline here -- this is almost the identical crew that worked last year’s Caps-Rangers Game 7.
Rooney, O’Rourke and Murphy all return, with the lone exception being Morin, who replaces Jonny “What happened to the H?” Murray.
The Rangers won last year’s Game 7 by a 2-1 scoreline, a tightly-contested affair that featured just three penalty calls (two on Washington, one on New York.)
Rooney and O’Rourke are extremely familiar with these two teams.
In addition to working last year’s Game 7, the pair also called the triple-OT Game 3, which New York won 2-1.
That game was over 100 minutes long but had just 14 PIM.
Notes
-- Last year, Rooney and O’Rourke also called Game 7 of the Florida-New Jersey series.
-- O’Rourke worked Game 1 of the Ottawa-Montreal series (along with Mike Leggo), tagging Sens defenseman Eric Gryba with a five-minute interference penalty for his hit on Montreal’s Lars Eller.
-- O’Rourke worked Game 3 of the Rangers-Caps series, a 4-3 New York victory. Rooney worked Game 1.
-- Murphy worked the lines for Game 5 of this series, a 2-1 Caps win in OT.
