One big aspect of some of the games in the 2025 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs that I have noticed, is the officiating and how it has been questionable. It has not just been this way for the Edmonton Oilers, but for some of the other teams as well, eliminated or still contending.
Today I will be looking at some of the penalties that have been called against the Oilers and if it was the right call or bad/made up. One would hope that the right calls are being made, because the Los Angeles Kings were 8/20 on the power play against Edmonton in Round 1 and 7/12 in the first three games. What started as a 58% man advantage, quickly dropped to about 13%. Even though the Kings only went 1/8 in their final four games of the series, their power play still finished at 40%.
In their Round 2 series against the Vegas Golden Knights, 3/13 is all that the Knights were able to muster up on the five-on-four play. That gave them a rate of about 23% on the power play. The Oilers on the other hand, were 5/13 in Round 1 and only 1/11 in Round 2. Power play percentages of 38 and nine respectively.
Some questionable calls that were made, so far
Are the right calls truly being made?
When you look at the videos and the penalties that were called above, you start to ask yourself if the right calls may have actually been made. I know that a lot of Oilers fans have not been liking the calls that are being made right now and I understand where they are coming from.
It is truly hard to justify a penalty that has been called, when you only hear about it instead of watching and seeing it live and looking at all of the replays that are shown from the call.
In my opinion, the most questionable call and penalty that the Oilers have received so far in the playoffs, was the call against Jake Walman for the delay of the game in the series against the Los Angeles Kings. He “apparently” shot the puck straight up and over the glass in his defensive zone, which is called a penalty every time. In this particular play, it looked like the puck might have actually nicked the glass and changed direction. There was not enough concrete evidence, which is why the Oilers were called on that play.
Honourable Mention: Carolina Hurricanes
I thought that I would pop one honourable mention in here, that really shows a bad none call and what should have definitely been a penalty. With myself being a Carolina Hurricanes fan, here was the play that “was” not called:
As you can see, Aaron Ekblad intentionally drove his right forearm/elbow into the back of the head of Hurricanes rookie Jackson Blake. No call was initially made on the play and it was most likely because the Carolina Hurricanes scored in the process, which realistically negated the call.
I do not really think that the National Hockey League has an officiating problem, I have just noticed a lot of calls favouring certain teams and it kind of shows more when they are playing in their home barn.
Am I wrong in thinking this way? Or do you agree with what I am saying? Let me know in the comments.
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Yep, I do think you are wrong. I think that by the end of the series or the total playoffs bad calls or non calls even out over the series. I have agreed with most, but some are questionable in relationship to what is not being called. This is a fast & furious game, with another level in the playoffs. Everyone knows it, players expect a little more leniency on calls during the playoffs. Then let’s put out there the acting skills of the hockey players. You use to never see this a few years ago, now if they feel a stick on them they fall down trying to draw a penalty, works sometimes but not always. Or they will whip their heads back like they got a high stick, when the stick never touched them. Basically I think the calls good or bad seem to even out .