Holl's penalty in Game 7 that negated Tavares' goal was similar to a play from Palat on Matthews in Game 6, no call

The Leafs came up short in Game 7 on Saturday, but not for a lack of trying. The Leafs, for the majority of the game, outplayed the Lightning in all 3 zones, but just couldn't seem to find a way to get the puck past reigning Conn Smythe Trophy winner Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Midway through the second period, the Leafs thought that they had tied the game at 1 on a beautiful play by captain John Tavares, who beat Vasilevksiy clean. The problem was that referee Eric Furlatt waived off the goal and penalized Justin Holl for interference for the double-whammy against the Leafs.


You rarely see plays like that called in the regular season, never mind the playoffs. But, that's the standard, right? That's in the rulebook, so they have to call it. Well, not so fast. A similar play occurred in Game 6, with Ondrej Palat cutting off Auston Matthews to create space for Steven Stamkos, who feeds him for a shot from just above the hashmarks.



How can these two plays, very similar in nature, yield two very different results? If you're calling picks as penalties every time, I don't think anyone's complaining. But if you're letting some go while calling others, it just showcases the bias that officials have. It gets worse when you go through the series game-by-game and realize that plenty of what the Leafs were called for, the Lightning got away with.

Honestly, it sounds like sour grapes, but it's just calling out inconsistency. The Lightning won the series. It's over and done with. The Leafs deserved a better fate in this one though. If that series is properly officiated and if the penalty scaling is more balanced, I don't think there's any questions as to who likely comes out on top.