Boston Bruins: Claude Julien Annoyed With Referees In Loss To Anaheim Ducks

Boston Bruins: Claude Julien Annoyed With Referees In Loss To Anaheim Ducks After Multiple Missed-Penalties

The Boston Bruins were out-played by the Anaheim Ducks on Friday night. There is no excuse to be made for the Bruins losing the game, but there is certainly a case to be made that the referees had a bad night.

The referees in Friday’s game between the Bruins and Ducks missed a few obvious penalties that clearly left Bruins’ head coach Claude Julien fired up after the game. When talking about the missed-calls after the game, Claude Julien had this to say.

"“It does (get under my skin). To be honest with you, it does. And that’s what I told the referee there. After a TV timeout, I brought him over and said, ‘Do you want my guys to start dropping and diving and embellishing? Because obviously we’re not getting the calls.’ I said, ‘You guys should have enough respect for our team right now that when you see those things happen, to call them.’ It’s been disappointing. It just seems like game after game, you’ve got those kind of things happening. We’re trying to play the game the right way, and we’re trying to not embarrass the referees. But at the same time, you wish they would counter with some respect there and call those things that are very obvious” – Claude Julien"

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Claude Julien has been quoted time-and-time again with saying that he instructs his team to avoid embellishing, and when games like this happen, it’s not hard to see why he leaves it fired up. It’s no secret that hockey referees are only human but are tasked with making the right calls in arguably the fastest sport in real time. While this is true, it doesn’t excuse how poorly the game was officiated on Friday.

Matt Beleskey was forced to leave the game at the end of the first period before returning in the second to get repairs done near his eye. The following video shows the injury occurring:

Ducks’ defenseman Josh Manson‘s stick made contact with Matt Beleskey right near his right eye which forced him to leave the ice immediately with the help of John-Michael Liles and Brad Marchand. The referees may have been warranted with letting this call-go due to the NHL allowing high sticks so long as it’s the result of a follow-through; Manson was clearly trying to move the puck away from the boards as Beleskey skates in, but the end result wasn’t pretty nonetheless.

Bruins’ forwards David Pastrnak and Noel Acciari were also on the wrong-end of some missed penalties that were not the result of follow-throughs, however. One call that was missed that occurred right in front of the Anaheim net with a referee parked less than 10 feet away.

Corey Perry very clearly slashed Loui Eriksson on his wrist prior to the shot being taken, but the referee deemed it to be unworthy of a penalty. Following the whistle, Loui Eriksson immediately removed his glove and showed the referee that he was indeed slashed and indicated that they missed the call.

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The Boston Bruins will look to earn their first point on their California road-trip against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday. Whether the referees bring their A-game or not, the Bruins simply need to play better against the Kings than they did against the Ducks if they have any intention of taking at least one or two points with them back to Boston.