The ref drama in the NHL this year? Yeah, it’s been hotter than a playoff overtime; fans have been losing it over missed calls, weird decisions, and what some are calling full-on ref bias. And now, guess who’s the latest one caught in the chaos? Yup, it’s Matthew Tkachuk. The stripes have been under the spotlight all season long, but things really started to bubble during that round two clash between the Leafs and the Panthers. Sam Bennett elbowed goalie Anthony Stolarz right in the noggin, clear as day, and somehow… no whistle, no penalty, no nothing. It left fans scratching their heads, and even Elliotte Friedman wasn’t letting it slide.
On the 32 Thoughts podcast, Friedman didn’t hold back while chatting with Kyle Bukauskas, saying, “I thought it should have been a penalty. I even got referees who said to me they didn’t think that was a penalty, and I was like, You guys have got to be kidding me. Like, that’s a penalty…” He even drew a little comparison for spice, adding, “Connor Brown got a penalty in the third period for bumping Aiden Hill like it wasn’t really a dirty play or anything like that. He was going through the crease and there was contact and he was trying to score.” So now, with Tkachuk caught in the latest ref mess, the NHL’s striped squad might just be skating on some seriously thin ice.
Midway through the game with the Canes holding on to a 1-0 lead over the Panthers, B/R Open Ice decided to stir the pot on X with a spicy little mid-game clip. The caption? “Jordan Staal was called for a hook… and Matthew Tkachuk was called for embellishment on the play.” Classic NHL chaos. The video showed Tkachuk going for the puck when out of nowhere, Jordan Staal swooped in trying to make a clean steal, but things went off-script real quick.
Jordan Staal was called for a hook… and Matthew Tkachuk was called for embellishment on the play pic.twitter.com/Wa4h1SODt5
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) May 27, 2025
Instead of a clean takeaway, Staal’s stick ended up getting all tangled up in Tkachuk’s gear. One second they’re fighting for control, the next they’re twisted up like spaghetti and bumping down to the ice. It was messy. It was very NHL playoffs. And that whole sequence? Yeah, it earned both of them a little trip to the sin bin; one for hooking, the other for turning it into a full-blown theatre production.
No shocker, fans came through with the gold, dropping lines like, “Jordan Staal went fishing and Matthew Tkachuk was caught.” Honestly? Couldn’t have said it better. It looked like Tkachuk was the fish of the day, and Staal just caught the fish.
This story is developing…
The post Calls Mount Against NHL Referees as Matthew Tkachuk Falls Victim to ‘Wrong Call’ Amid Puck Fight appeared first on EssentiallySports.
