Penalties go up in the playoffs, but it's largely because of roughing, boarding, slashing, and cross checking calls (ie when games start getting out of hand physically).
To say officiating has been under fire during the Stanley Cup Playoffs would be an understatement. Travis Yost takes a closer look at the numbers behind the calls.
www.tsn.ca
Game 1 was very tame in that regard. And as you can see by the chart in that article, holding and hooking penalties are largely under-enforced in the playoffs, which were two of the biggest infractions people were complaining about us not getting PPs for. Florida played a very smart game...they obstructed and held like 90s dead puck teams did, but didn't take it over the line into violent infractions.
We just aren't going to get as many calls if we're not moving our legs. Florida outhustled us. Standing around waiting to make the perfect pass aint gonna cut it.
We need to come out of the gate in Game 2 like we're shot out of a cannon. You can't just expect the refs to give you so many calls. You have to earn them and understand the precedent of what they're likely to call and not.
And at some point we need to just realize that Florida is the way better team 5 on 5, and if they've learned to not play as reckless because giving us PPs gives us more of an advantage then I'll tip my cap to them for that.
