1. Which is it?
It’s been a tough series for the Canadiens and their fans. First, the referees weren’t calling anything and letting the Caps get away with murder. Then they were calling everything and not letting the players on the ice decide the game, as the Caps embellished the slightest contact. Somehow the Canadiens have managed to gain a 13-10 advantage in power play opportunities in the series despite this horrible, one-sided officiating (and despite outhitting the Caps overall).
For example, how did the referees miss this call on the Caps?
Oh, wait, no that’s not what I meant to clip. Here we go:
[This is where a clip of a pretty gnarly (and unpenalized) Ivan Demidov slewfoot of Tom Wilson would have gone, had the poster of said dirt not had to turn their account private, presumably due to the online harassment they were receiving once Montreal fans stumbled upon the clips they were posting.]
Gah! There’s more where those came from [ed. note: see previous], but for some reason embeds must not be working properly. At least the refs got this vicious assault by Ryan Leonard (two for interference) right:
Ryan Leonard bumps Jake Evans and a scrum ensues 🫣 pic.twitter.com/pmIKC24Oo2
— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) April 25, 2025
Point being, there have been plenty of “missed” calls both ways – your team getting dinged on something cheap, and the other team getting away with too much. But which is it? Personally, if I were Martin St. Louis and my team just played a game in which they were plus-two on special teams and minus-five for the rest of the game (plus-four on teams in the series and minus-seven otherwise), I wouldn’t be ringing the “let ’em play” bell, but that’s just me.
Martin St. Louis likes to say the league doesn’t care. The Canadiens lost a game they led in the third period and now they face elimination. Blaming that on officiating is not a good look, whether it’s true or not. The league doesn’t care. www.nytimes.com/athletic/631…
— Arpon Basu (@arponbasu.bsky.social) April 28, 2025 at 9:41 AM
[image or embed]
On the other hand…
Pick your fighter.
Complaining about officiating is the last resort of a desperate playoff team (except for in Carolina, where it’s the default setting), and flailing back-and-forth on it is embarrassing. While NHL officiating is by its nature inconsistent, both teams are dealing with the same officials and both (or neither) have legitimate complaints. Only one of the two teams, however, is playing through those complaints. The more Montreal focuses on the referees, the less they’re focusing on why they’re down 3-1 in this series, and that can only help the Caps.
2. History is History
Oh, have you not heard? This apparently isn’t the first time the Caps have come home for a Game 5 with a 3-1 lead in a best-of-seven series against Montreal.
Also, the Washington Capitals, as an organization, have a history of blowing two-game leads in the playoffs, be it 3-1 or 2-0. Hell, if there was a way to blow a 4-2 series lead, the Caps certainly would’ve figured out how against the Penguins in the ’90s.
But literally none of that matters, not even a little bit. You know that (at least your brain does, even if your gut isn’t quite on board). There are exactly two players on this Caps team that were on that 2010 club, and they’ve played a combined 251 playoff games since then and, not for nothing, won a Stanley Cup in the interim (a spring in which they won the Eastern Conference after leading 2-0 and the Final itself after going up 3-1). And here’s one for your brain:
So chill out. Relax. If these Caps can’t take care of business in this series, it’s on them. Not ghosts.
3. Flashback
On a completely unrelated historical note, let’s take a moment and recognize what a difference a year – and a top-notch front office – can make.
Take a look at the Caps’ lineup for Game 4 against the Rangers, one year ago yesterday (left) versus the Game 4 lineup from Sunday night (right), via the indispensable Dump n’ Chase:
There was an 82-game regular season in which the Caps finished atop the Eastern Conference that speaks to the massive improvements in the roster, but even in this series so far it’s clear as day. Anthony Beauvillier has a goal and four assists. Andrew Mangiapane has a game-winning goal and a helper. Jakob Chychrun has a goal and an assist. Brandon Duhaime has two goals. Logan Thompson has three wins. Taylor Raddysh, Lars Eller and Pierre-Luc Dubois have assists. The only player from that lineup on the left who had a point (or a win) in that Rangers’ series that is currently playing in the NHL outside of Washington is Max Pacioretty, who managed a single helper against the Blueshirts.
Last year’s Caps were not a good team. This year’s Caps are. And how the front office managed that turnaround is pretty darn impressive.