"I'm Blind, I'm Deaf, I Wanna be a Ref"

I just got back from the Rangers game (3rd game of the 2nd round series, vs. Buffalo), and WOW, do I have a lot to say about this game! The Garden was rocking! First of all, GO RANGERS and their 2-1 win late in the second period of sudden-death-overtime. Second of all, this game should have easily been 3-1 Rangers going into the third period had it not been for the horrific officiating. From the first dropped puck, the refs continuously called bogus penalties on the Rangers, failed to call obvious penalties on the Sabres, got in the way of the plays, and made innaccurate calls on icing and off-sides. Just to give a sense, after regulation time, the Rangers were called for 8 penalties whilst the Sabres were only called for 2. It seemed the Rangers were constantly down a skater, and one of these penalty-kills ended up in the goal for the Sabres. Even worse, a Rangers goal went under review and was waved off because the puck was apparently intentionally kicked in. Feel free to review the play yourself. There was no deliberate kick whatsoever, but rather a Ranger who skated into the goal box, an allowable play and an acceptable goal. And it's not just me: here's a quote from another blogger, a Flyers fan, nonetheless!: "That game [Rangers/Sabres] was god awful. from the miss goal and on top of that the miss hooking call on that play. to phantoms callsToday was an embrassment for NHL. I cant believe two referees on the ice can't make the correct call on ice. Sabres are Bettman's puppet team and everyone knows it. God, I miss that Barabro Special, that probably would be more entertaining than that embrassment at the Garden. Long Live Barbaro!"

It was the kind of game where the less-than-mediocre officiating took away from the fun of the game. It was also extremely one-sided and, at some points, so ridiculous, we were laughing from the seats. 'Coincidentally', it's known that the NHL is unofficially supporting the Sabres to win the whole thing. The Sabres are the prime example of the new NHL ideal: A successful team from a small town with a small paycheck. Honestly, the NHL is suffering in so many ways; they are losing their fan base, and based on the ridiculous and unprofessional officiating at the Garden, I can see why. The NHL better get their act together, and it better start with those guys in stripes who can unfortunately decide a game more powerfully than player talent.