Alan May on today’s officiating: It’s like St. Pierre and Joannette were competing on who could call the worst penalty

December 31, 2016 6:29 pm

Saturday afternoon, the Capitals pulled out a 6-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils, but the game was bizarre. After Tom Wilson sent John Moore to the hospital, officials Marc Joannette and Justin St. Pierre could not put the whistle down, calling 15 minor penalties – 10 of which came against the Capitals. If you add in the two fights, there was a total of 50 penalty minutes doled out.

CSN Mid-Atlantic’s Alan May was blunt about Joannette and St. Pierre’s officiating in his post-game analysis. It sucked.

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“They were brutal,” May said during Caps Extra. “That’s exactly how you should have Officiating NOT 101. That was horrible this game. The players on both teams didn’t know what a penalty was. The things they were getting away with that weren’t called were ridiculous. Some of the penalties – it’s like the two referees St. Pierre and Joannette were competing with each other on who could blow a whistle and call a worse penalty. It was a horrible game. Fortunately the Caps players rose above it and did everything they had to beat those guys, to beat the Devils, and get two more points for the Metropolitan Division.”

Here’s a great example of how bad the officiating was.

Late in the second period, Dmitry Orlov was whistled for interference after elbowing Kyle Palmieri in the head. This was a penalty, though interference is a strange call here.

Palmieri responded by shoving Orlov square in the back. This went uncalled for some strange reason.

Capitals defenseman Brooks Orpik, who has seen everything in his 14-year career in hockey, looked on from the bench puzzled.

Me too, Brooks. Me too.

Here’s the full penalty summary.