The Arizona Coyotes lost to the Capitals 3-2 last night on a disputed goal scored by Mike Richards. Louis Domingue had some very strong comments about the refereeing after the game.
For most of three periods, the Arizona Coyotes hung in with the undisputed kings of the NHL.
In a span of 26 seconds in the third period, the Yotes had fallen from a 1-1 tie with the Caps to a 3-1 deficit.
It was the Capitals third goal, however, that really chaffed rookie netminder Louis Domingue due to his argument that he had covered the puck and should have received a whistle from the referee.
No whistle was blown and though the Arizona Coyotes stopped playing, the Caps did not. Their newest signing Mike Richards found the loose puck and drove it home for the eventual game-winner.
After the game, Domingue minced few words about the incident:
"“I’m expecting that they treat every guy the same way, and I felt like because I don’t have many games in this league I’m being treated differently. I think that if Holtby would have covered the puck this way, they would have blew the whistle right away. All game it was the same thing. I didn’t have the whistle. It happened before in the third. I’m asking them and they don’t have a reply. I don’t think I’m a guy that was fighting the puck tonight. I think I had control of every puck. To me it’s just unacceptable that they don’t treat us the same way.”"
When you watch the replay it’s easy to see why Domingue was frustrated with the call, but upon review it looks like his teammate Brad Richardson deserved as much blame as referee Tim Peel.
As Domingue puts his glove on the puck, Richardson also has his stick lodged next to or underneath Domingue’s glove. Richardson sees Tom Wilson charging at Domingue and dislodges his stick from under Domingue’s glove in an attempt to protect his goaltender.
Unfortunately for the Arizona Coyotes and Louis Domingue, Richardson also dislodged the puck. From there the puck was lost in the mayhem until Mike Richards found it and put it past Louis.
On the Washington Capitals’ broadcast, Joe Beninati and Craig Laughlin both seemed to indicate surprise that the whistle was not blown. Matt McConnell and Tyson Nash were flummoxed on the Coyotes’ broadcast as well.
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Surprisingly it was Domingue who offered the harshest take in his post-game press availability. It’s a bold move for the rookie, but admirable that he is willing to speak his mind.
He’s been on the losing end of several questionable calls, including a particularly strange one against the Los Angeles Kings, and it appears this one was a bridge too far for the rookie.
Unfortunately it’s unlikely to win him sympathy from the stripes.
Whether taking the refs to task comes back to bite him and the Arizona Coyotes remains to be seen.