Last night, it was Brad Meier and Ian Walsh who swallowed their whistles, calling just one player foul in the Oilers/Blues game.
Tonight, Greg Kimmerly and Dan O’Halloran were the ones who kept their whistles in their pockets.
The duo called just four penalties in the game. One was a mandatory puck-over-glass call, leaving three player fouls. Here’s the breakdown:
From NHL.com
Just one call against the Senators, and it happened just one a minute into the game. After that, Ottawa apparently played flawless hockey.
Colorado was near perfect, too, with just a trip and a slash in the second period.
The two clubs were models of sportsmanship over the game’s final 28:19. Not one infraction was called through the remainder of the game. Not that rules weren’t bent – or even broken – they just weren’t called.
I'll sound like a homer, but so what: unreal officiating these last two periods. Not one penalty on Ottawa since early first?
— Adrian Dater (@adater) January 9, 2014
Despite the dearth of opportunities, both the Senators and Avalanche were able to convert with the man advantage.
For two teams that average a combined 23.7 penalty minutes per game, this was an impressive show of restraint — or simply two refs who decided to let them play.
