June 13, 2025

On this episode of the Scouting the Refs podcast:

    • Games 3 and 4 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Edmonton Oilers and the Florida Panthers as the series shifts south.
    • Evander Kane finds himself in penalty trouble early… and again… and again.
    • Before the end of the game, both teams piled on the penalty minutes, racking up the fourth-most minutes in a Stanley Cup Final
    • Oilers’ Jake Walman commits the cardinal sin of squirting a water bottle, picking up a $5000 fine – and another $5000 for unsportsmanlike conduct against Matthew Tkachuk
    • Consistency… or lack thereof.
    • Conspiracies… or lack thereof.
    • Panthers’ Barkov gets away with a high stick on Edmonton’s Troy Stetcher just prior to a Florida goal.
    • Carter Verhaege avoids a penalty for boarding on a hit from behind on Evan Bouchard
    • Jeff Skinner holds Dmitry Kulikov’s stick for an entire shift – from puck drop until a goal is scored – with no call.  Kulikov attempts to seek out revenge with an equally-unpenalized flying elbow.  Sure, Skinner avoided contact and possible injury on the play, but does that mean Kulikov should get off scot-free?
    • Linesman Ryan Gibbons keeps the arm up for icing, even after getting tangled up with Evander Kane. Focus!
    • You can’t do a line change after an icing, so why can you put the goalie back into an empty net?
    • The NHL Awards have been handed but we’re still missing one very important award.

 

 

 

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The Scouting The Refs Podcast is a weekly look at the world of officiating and player safety within the National Hockey League, AHL, ECHL, and other leagues around the world. We’ll break down the calls and the rules behind them to help understand why a penalty or suspension was – or wasn’t – handed out. 

Todd Lewis is a veteran broadcaster covering the NHL and other major league sports. Lewis is a former host on the NHL Network and on NHL Network Radio. He’s also worked for TSN, Sportsnet as a host/anchor and is a producer of other programs. 

Josh Smith is the founder of Scouting the Refs, the leading independent site related to hockey officiating which follows hockey officials across the NHL, AHL, ECHL, and other leagues around the world, including news, rule changes and interpretations, suspensions, and statistics on officials and penalty calls.