NHL Referee Makes Terrible Call in Retaliation to Own Mistake

However, while the game of hockey is fast, sometimes the criticism of the refs is deserved, and that is exactly the case for what happened in the Panthers-Lightning game tonight.

In tonight's Lightning-Panthers game, an NHL referee made a terrible call after being confronted for his own mistake during the play. In the video, you can see the Lightning dump the puck in, and Mikey Eyssimont trying to chase it on the near boards.

Eyssimont, however, is held up by an out-of-position ref, leading to a turnover. He lets the Referee know about how he feels during the skate back.

The relationship between NHL players and Refs is a unique one. It's not the case in many leagues where players and refs exchange pleasantries when they disagree on a play, but it occurs regularly in hockey.

However, it just didn't occur tonight. The only justification the ref has for making this call is that he wanted to preserve his ego and display his power over the player, as Eyssimont couldn't have said something that was too egregious in the short clip seen above.

As seen on Blade of Steel - "NHL referees continue to prove they are the softest with awful penalty call"