Washington Capitals left winger Alex Ovechkin was critical of the officiating in the team's seven-game playoff series with the New York Rangers. Ovechkin's Caps suffered a series-ending loss on Monday night, ending their season.
"The refereeing ... you understand it yourself. How can there be no penalties at all (on one team) during the playoffs?" Ovechkin said in Russian to Slava Malamud, a longtime writer who has covered Ovechkin. "I am not saying there was a phone call from (the league), but someone just wanted Game 7. For the ratings. You know, the lockout, escrow, the league needs to make profit. I don't know whether the refs were predisposed against us or the league," he said. "But to not give obvious penalties (against the Rangers), while for us any little thing was immediately penalized."
The Capitals had 14 penalty minutes to the Rangers' four in Game 7. Both teams had two power-play opportunities but failed to capitalize.
For the series, Washington had 74 penalty minutes and the Rangers had 40 - though in the last three games, Washington registered 36 penalty minutes compared to just 12 for the Rangers. However, the penalty disparity didn't translate directly to goals as Washington scored three power-play goals in the series and New York scored two.
Ovechkin scored just one goal (in Game 1) and had one assist (in Game 2) during the entire playoffs. He blanked in the last five games despite having 18 shots on goal. Ovechkin led the NHL with 32 goals during the regular season.
Ovechkin and Washington are now 2-5 in the seventh game of a playoff series since 2008. They have lost in the conference semifinals three times and the conference quarterfinals twice in the past five years - four of those five losing in the seventh game.
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