A referee wearing a microphone for the Detroit-Nashville game Tuesday night was heard over the TV broadcast saying he wanted to call a penalty against the Predators.
“It wasn’t much, but I wanted to get a (expletive) penalty against Nashville early in the,” the unidentified official was heard saying before his microphone was cut off after Predators forward Viktor Arvidsson was called for a tripping penalty at 4:56 of the second period.
Referees Tim Peel and Kelly Sutherland worked the game, a 2-0 win by Nashville. The Predators were called for four penalties and the Red Wings three.
The NHL did not immediately respond to messages from The Associated Press after the game.
WARNING: Clip contains profane language:
Maybe if you’re a mic’d up ref, you shouldn’t express how you wanted to call a penalty against a team earlier in the game, changing how you ref the rest of the game.<br><br>”It wasn’t much but I wanted to get a fuckin’ penalty against Nashville early in the…”<a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/Preds?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#Preds</a> <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/LGRW?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#LGRW</a> <a href=”https://t.co/6fZImkdqLr”>pic.twitter.com/6fZImkdqLr</a>
—@bestofmatt
Predators coach John Hynes said it probably doesn’t matter how he feels about what the official said.
“But the referees are employees of the league and rather than me comment on it, it’s an issue that I think the league will have to take care of,” Hynes said.