Buffalo Sabers captain Kyle Okposo had a lot to say about the referees' performance during his team's 3-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.
And for good reason, the decision to give attacker Eric Robinson a major penalty and a game-misconduct penalty for making life difficult for CH defender Justin Barron changed the outcome of the game.
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That Robinson was sanctioned in this way is not necessarily what angered Okposo. However, a similar incident occurred between the Minnesota Wild and the Edmonton Oilers on Friday when Evander Kane checked Jonas Brodin from behind.
The Oilers forward was not tackled by the officials during the scene, and that bothered the Sabers forward.
“I don't understand why Evander Kane wasn't punished yesterday [vendredi] And the fact that there’s a five-minute mark for that doesn’t make any sense,” Okposo told reporters after the game against the Habs. It's exactly the same game and there is an injury in the sequence. I just don't like consistency. It’s the exact same game where there’s one with zero penalty minutes and another with five penalty minutes.”
As a reminder, Jayden Struble (four on four) and Nick Suzuki capitalized on this penalty to give Martin St. Louis' men a 2-0 lead. The Buffalo club forced overtime thanks to two goals in the third period, but had to admit defeat in the shootout.