New Jersey Devils
Devils Sheldon Keefe Ticked With Officiating, Again
For the second time in as many games, Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe is ticked with NHL officials due to questionable calls.
For the second time in as many games, New Jersey Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe is ticked with NHL officials.
On Tuesday, the Devils were penalized by a controversial goaltender interference call, which contributed to their 8-5 lashing at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The penalty, of course, led to a power play goal for the Lightning, and it took all of four seconds for Jake Guentzel to put the game further out of reach for the Devils.
Keefe’s reaction behind the bench as a result of the controversial call was clear.
He was pissed.
“I would be curious,” Keefe said Tuesday night. “(Referee) Kelly Sutherland is going to look at it, he’s gonna talk to me the next time we see him. I’ll anxiously await his opinion of the call when he watches it back.”
The questionable officiating continued on Thursday against the Detroit Red Wings.
Devils Postgame: Tempers Flare; Markstrom Struggles in 5-3 Loss to Red Wings
In the third period with the game tied at two, Devils defenseman Brenden Dillon took a hit along the boards by Red Wings forward, Christian Fischer.
It appeared that Fischer hit Dillon from behind with his numbers exposed, sending the Devils defenseman face-first into the boards, leaving him bloodied from the mouth.
Dillon was slow to get up, however, when he did, he went right after Fischer and initiated a fight — which he certainly won.
Yet, the Devils were the ones who found themselves shorthanded when all was said and done.
Dillon received five minutes for fighting and an extra two minutes for roughing. Fischer only served the major, which led to a Red Wings power play.
Keefe was, once again, furious — barking at the referees with some colorful language.
“I think there should be a penalty on the initial hit, I think it’s quite clear,” Keefe explained much calmer during Thursday’s postgame. “It’s another [call] I think when the refs get a chance to look back at, and they’re going to see that differently.”
Of course, Dylan Larkin converted on the ensuing Red Wings power play to give Detroit a 3-2 lead early in the third period. The Devils were able to strike back with a power play goal of their own, Nico Hischier’s second of the game. Yet, as tempers flared, more extracurricular between the whistles broke out.
Keefe later doubled down, explaining that not only did the officials not get it right with Dillon, but they also botched a call later in the game that he believes should have gone against Red Wings defenseman, Ben Chiarot.
“As the game would have it, Nico [Hischier] gets pulled down on a breakaway, so we get a power play,” Keefe continued. “But, there’s a scrum, and Chiarot ends up taking his gloves off and throws a number of punches at our guys and doesn’t get anything extra. So, I would say worse than what Dillon got a penalty for previous to that. So those are the kind of things that didn’t go our way today.”
Keefe went on to explain that once the puck dropped and the Devils were on the penalty kill, it was on them to do a better job of killing it off. Instead, the Red Wings beat Jacob Markstrom on two of four man advantages en route to their 5-3 victory.
The Devils were going to lose on Tuesday regardless of the questionable officiating due to their own play. However, Thursday’s situation felt different, and certainly swung the momentum of the game.
Perhaps, Keefe has another conversation coming down the line with officials that he’ll be “anxiously” awaiting.
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