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A night full of officiating insanity around the NHL includes 116 penalty minutes in Lightning-Maple Leafs game

By Chris Cerullo

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April 22, 2022 7:38 am

Something was in the water Thursday night in the NHL as officials around the league were kept incredibly busy by multiple teams. Dirty hits and ejections and fights! Oh my!

Let’s take a trip through some of the chaos that went down on the ice.

Tampa Bay-Toronto 116 penalty minute madness

The Lightning and Leafs were the true leaders when it came to mayhem on the night. 23 minor penalties were called as well as six different misconducts doled out in their game. It all started with Wayne Simmonds and Pat Maroon going at it on their respective benches.

That interaction eventually led to this.

Simmonds would later full-on leap into a very high hit on defenseman Mikhail Sergachev.

The dirty hit may have been retribution for this action from Sergachev very early in the game on Leafs forward Michael Bunting.

Kyle Clifford, who received a match penalty in the game donked Corey Perry on the head with his stick.

Nikita Kucherov added his own bit of controversy with a potential, purposeful kick on Mitch Marner.

Finally, Cal Foote threw a reverse elbow at Alex Kerfoot that sparked a center-ice melee within the final minute of regulation.

Here is how that all turned out on the official scoresheet.

Canadiens score off of absolutely blatant hand pass

As you can see, Brendan Gallagher clearly throws the puck back into the slot with his hand before it is slammed into the net. The goal was allowed to stand after the on-ice officials incorrectly told the Flyers that they could not challenge a missed stoppage of play.

Goaltender interference bedlam in Florida

Michael Rasmussen of the Detroit Red Wings hit Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky as the Russian netminder went to play the puck behind the net. This enraged Radko Gudas and the rest is history.

Also coming from this game was Oskar Sundqvist being given a rare five-minute major and game misconduct for a slash.

Blood drawn in Minnesota

Kirill Kaprizov caught poor Brad Richardson with a brutal, slicing high-stick that cut the Canucks forward wide open.

Kevin Fiala got away with this slick, dangerous little trip on goaltender Thatcher Demko.

That’s finally it. What do you think was the worst of the worst and who should be getting a call from the Department of Player Safety?

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