Cole Caufield said he thought a slashing penalty call late in the third period was not certain after the Minnesota Wild beat the Montreal Canadiens 2-1 in overtime.
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Cole Caufield questioned a late slashing penalty call after the Minnesota Wild scored the game-winning goal on the power play to defeat the Montreal Canadiens 2-1 in overtime on Tuesday night.
Caufield was penalized for slashing with less than a minute remaining in the third period. On the power play, Kirill Kaprizov scored 21 seconds into overtime, giving the Wild the win.
Caufield said the decision was not “100 per cent sure,” adding that when a referee is on the other side of the ice calling a penalty while a player is putting their hands in the air, the situation can look different from what players are seeing.
In comments following the Canadiens’ practice on Wednesday afternoon, Caufield also suggested referees should be prepared to explain questionable calls. “They take their job really seriously and we respect them for what they do. It's not an easy job,” he said. “If they felt like that was the right call, I think at some point maybe they should have to answer questions themselves and kind of explain what they thought or what they saw versus them just putting their hand in the air.”
Caufield said he believed referee Kelly Sutherland and official Justin Kea were not on the same page at other points in the game, pointing to an earlier sequence in the third period where Sutherland appeared to be explaining that Josh Anderson had not hooked forward Maxim Shabanov, while Kea raised his arm for a penalty.
The NHL discussed officiating during meetings Tuesday in Toronto, with the league looking at whether tools such as rapid replay assist technology can help referees make calls more consistently.
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