I appreciate the insight. I didn't find a replay of the entire play either but my guess is you're on to something with how he was back tracking rather quickly to get back out of the zone. There's obviously some tinfoil hats being worn, and it's hard to dismiss it after the 2 calls against dougie, and the non-call on svech. However, I'd like to think it's not so corrupt that you would have a linesman blatantly keeping a puck in the zone to benefit one team over another.
Hey as long as we are on the topic, I'll offer thoughts on the Hamilton Svech play ( I missed the rest of the game so didn't see the other Hamilton penalty people are talking about.
I say this not to directly defend calls or missed calls, but to provide context or some understanding of what the officials MAY be thinking, because when it is not discussed or analyzed the officiating just seems so random and is obviously extremely frustrating to watch.
I did not like the Hamilton roughing call, but I will come back to that.
On the Svech non-call, what you have to keep in mind is that the camera (one of many - don't even know how many they have) caught that perfectly, and we can see in retrospect how far Boston 52 skated (to I assume set a pick) and the contact that resulted. But it was away from the play, with added emphasis from referees's perspective on possession of the puck due to the Hamilton delayed call. It is very possible that neither referee directly saw the entire play (including how far 52 skated). It could have easily looked like incidental contact in such circumstances. One of the linesman probably had a good view, but it was not enough for them to tell the referee they should call a major.
It should have been a penalty, but like the other play, it happens. There are a helluva lot more camera's watching than official's so you have to live with they can't see everything , and because of that they also won't call everything they see. They have to "manage" the game. A term I know everyone hates, but I will come back to that when I talk about the Hamilton roughing call.
What I can assure you of is that all the officials would be discussing the Svech play and what they did or did not see when they had a break, so they will likely be keeping that in mind-whatever they concluded- as the game goes on.
Back to the Hamilton roughing penalty. I did not like that call at all, partuclarly after the Stall pnealty which I understand is goin to be called most of the time, but I didn't think the contact was that hard and thought the Bruin's player may have have helped it out a bit. As a referee I still make that call, but also know in the back of my mind that the Canes MIGHT (not will) get the benefit of the doubt on a gray area call coming up.
I thought the Hamilton rough was gray area at best. I have a personal theory, based on nothing more than the games I watch (and have watched for 40 years) and my belief and experience with "game management".
I think the league has the officials in a bit of purgatory where they are expected to make certain calls no matter what, but still expected to manage the game. The problem comes if an official gets dinged for not making certain calls that are expected, and is afraid to not make a call when game management might otherwise dictate a non-call. We all see on replay that Hamilton's elbow is nowhere near the Bruin's player face, but in real time it looks like it could have. At that point in the game, with a play that happens probably 15 times a game, I just don't see how that gets called unless he is afraid of getting dinged for missing head contact. In terms of game management perhaps the earlier Krug non-call (which I agreed with) could have also come into play, if they thought they may have missed (or where told between periods that they missed a slew foot earlier (again I thought they just got caught up) he may be more to make the "soft" call.
In my opinion good hockey refereeing is as much art as science. The officials who have made it this far are very good at what they do, know matter how mad we get at them sometimes. Just let the officials manage the game as they see fit, and don't micro manage, we will all be happier with the results in the long run.
I also think the league and "broadcast partners" as they like to say, should do a better job of explaining these things to the viewers, particularly the on-ice communication that occurs between the players and officials. In the old days of the 3-man system the officials all had their personalties and style, but everyone knew what they were going into the game and it a led to more consistency and understanding within the game.
PerhapsI am being overly nostalgic for a bye gone era (and certainly with the info today aon head injuries the games have to be called differently) - but I really do feel like these officials are being micro-managed at times.