Allow me to preface this post by saying that the Flyers played phenomenal hockey in games 3 and 4. They have been great at home throughout the entire playoffs. They did what was necessary to hold serve and tie the series up.
But with that said, it's clear they're getting a little bit of help.
For the sake of not sounding like a blind homer right off the bat, let me provide you with some numbers.
So far in this series, the Hawks have served 36 penalty minutes. The Flyers, meanwhile, have served 22 penalty minutes. Neither number includes the 10 minute game misconducts to Pronger and Eager after game 2.
That's a pretty big difference in four games, but it gets even worse when you consider each team's track record. Let's take a look at the regular season, and before you dismiss regular season stats as useless, remember that it is an 82-game sample size for a team's tendencies.
In the regular season, Philadelphia ranked 2nd in the entire NHL in penalty minutes behind only Tampa Bay. The Hawks, meanwhile, ranked 25th.
On a game by game basis, the Flyers averaged 16.6 penalty minutes a game in the regular season compared to the Hawks' 11.3.
Even if you don't want to look at the regular season, just look at the rest of the playoffs: Even after 4 games in which the Hawks have racked up 14 more penalty minutes than the Flyers, Phiadelphia still leads the playoffs in total penalty minutes.
So how does a team that, on average, sits in the box for 5 more minutes per night than another team suddenly become angels in comparison?
How does the 2nd most penalized team in the NHL go an entire Game 1 without a penalty, especially considering that hasn't happened in a Finals game in 57 years?
Many speculate that the NHL and/or NBC want this to be a long, competitive series for the sake of increased viewership and revenue. The league is a business after all, and an extra game or two can have a big impact on the bottom line. I like to think that type of conspiracy isn't happening, but something sure stinks.
It is also clear that Chris Pronger can do whatever he wants. Any time he gets in a scrum in front of the net, the official's arm is going up, and 99% of the time it's a Hawk heading to the box for two minutes.
To be fair, Pronger is a veteran of this league, and those players tend to get the calls over younger players. The same goes for the NBA, as Bulls fans found out in Derrick Rose's first two seasons. But in this case, the inconsistent officiating isn't limited to Pronger.
How about Scott Hartnell punching Kris Versteeg's helmet off in game 3? Or the phantom cross-checking penalty on Patrick Sharp in game 4?
Through four games, there hasn't been a single game in which the Flyers spent more time in the box than the Hawks. I'd like to get a statistician to figure out the odds of that happening, considering the Flyers averaged 5 more minutes a game than the Hawks over an 82-game period.
Any way you spin it, the officiating has been questionable in this series through four games. This observation isn't meant to take anything away from the Flyers, who have played hard and capitalized on their chances to tie up this series.
But it's hard not to speculate what this series would look like with consistent officiating.
-JT
Follow me on Twitter @JTalarico328, and check me out on WGN Radio 720 on Saturday morning at 10:30 on ChicagoNow Radio.
God, I love cry babies!!!
again, its easy to call one side or teams fans crybabies when its the team that you are rooting for that is the beneficiary of all the questionable calls.Im sure that if the situation was reversed and it was the Hawks getting the majority of the calls which is leading directly to helping them win, you'd have no problem with that huh? thought so.
Thanks for the comments everyone. And Matt that is an interesting stat about four flyers having more PIM than anyone on the Hawks. Pretty unreal considering how things have gone in this series.
Will be very interesting to see how O'Halloran and McCreary call the game tonight.
Here's the deal: Gary Bettman began to DROOL once the game 1 and 2 ratings came in. He absolutely has influence on the ref system to "help" ensure the series would extend and go 7 games. Its good for business.
I believe he wants the Hawks to win in the end though. They are exciting, original six and have a great redemption story. The Flyers are and always will (proudly) be the blackeye -no pun intended- of the league. Just like when they won in 1975, the commish would begrudgenly pass the Cup to their captian in the event of a victory.
If the gambling NBA ref story didnt spell it out for everyone, the big cheese DOES play God when it comes to who they want to win and lose. There is no doubt in my mind that Bettman does the same. Like probably many of you feel, to Bettman, the thought of the Red WIngs appearing in ANOTHER cup this year would have devestated ratings. (Noone cares about Detroit other than the opponents and Detroit fans) While riding the wave of excitment stemming from the Olympics, Bettman was gonna make damn sure the Wings didnt get there. Proof? 2nd least penalized team in the league and one of the least penalized teams over the past two decades, draws 40 penalties in 5 games against the Sharks. 40 PENALTIES, not minutes. You tell me, does that even sound true? Check for yourselves. Kinda makes you wonder, right?
That being said, I do think Bettman wants things to turn out for Chicago so I will make a perdiction: (BTW- im 1 for 50 this year, so take from it what you will) Chris Pronger will get at least 3 calls on him tonight. Hawks GW goal will come from special teams.
I do think the Flyers are capable of a perfect game tonight and thats what it would take to keep the refs out of it and take the HAwks out of the series! Any errors, the Flyers will lose.
Go Flyers!!!
Nice to be able to respond to a post of yours without it denigrating into a pissing match. Nice, well thought out comments, its a shame the way a game is called affects everything. Either call the game the way you do during the season or dont call anything and let it be the early 90's again. Im not too big a conspiracy theorist but theres some odd shit happening and your point about how the detroit series was called was spot on.
Ouch! I love stats and truth is I love the Wings but I am Chicago born and the Hawks are my team. Wonderful stats on Detroit - this is kinda sad. Definitely don't want the NHL to end up like the NBA.
John, To quote a dear friend Timmy, "Good teams will over come bad officiating." However I will also add it can be an uphill battle. As one of the "no blood no foul' playoff hockey rule I have a bias against most times the whistle comes out, during a hot series.
Remember the Flyers do not play nice, the Hawks should be prepared and plan accordingly. It's an uphill battle but it can be done. Hey, the Wolves even won under Harry Dumas most of the time.
Jane, you are absolutely correct that sometimes good teams have to overcome bad officiating. The Hawks have done that twice already in this series. The point of this post was to shed light on some numbers that overwhelmingly favor the Flyers, especially when each team's tendencies are taken into consideration. Thanks for reading!
can someone put together a highlight reel of the bad officiating? show all the missed calls, crosschecks, trips, slashes.
worst refereeing I have ever seen. how does the dirtist team in hockey go an entire game with no penalties? and all of pronger's b.s.
post the missed calls clips up on youtube, facebook, etc to embarrass the referees and NHL so maybe we get a fair game next time. thats all we need is a fairly officiated game to blow out the other team.
if I had that skill set I would do it.
John, thank you for a level-headed post on this subject. I'm listening to the Score right now and Rosenbloom (a hockey guy) and Paruch are mocking the idea that the Flyers are getting the better of bad/inconsistent officiating, though Rosenbloom doesn't deny that Pronger is getting away with everything.
Can you think of an example of another d-man getting away with as much as Pronger is in a SCF?
John, excellent stuff!
All of your stats are easily verified on nhl.com. Might also add that for the regular season 4 Flyers were in the top 30 in pim and only one Hawk, Ben eager and he was 29th with all 4 Flyers ahead of him.