Wings wonder after loss to Stars: Did refs have eyes out for Witkowski?

Beyond the frustration of not being able to generate much in the way of offense against the Dallas Stars, the Detroit Red Wings were baffled by how Luke Witkowski ended up with so many penalties.

The Wings fell, 4-2, Tuesday at Little Caesars Arena, with two of Dallas’ goals coming during power plays. In the first period, Witkowski was called for elbowing Martin Hanzal, even as there was little, if any, contact.

In the second period, Stars defenseman Stephen Johns delivered a big, clean hit on Dominic Turgeon, sending the Wings rookie into the boards. Johns then appeared to invite Witkowski to fight; the two did – and Witkowski also was called for roughing in addition to the 5-minute majors each received, giving the Stars another power play.

That rankled.

“To me, the roughing call is a made up call,” Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg said. “Either it’s instigator or it’s nothing. I don’t know where he got the extra 2 from. To me, I think they both dropped the gloves at the same time and we’ve been in that situation before this year and it’s just been two 5s. So, that’s a tough one.

“The first one, too, I don’t think he even hits him. But, that happens. As a player you have a bad game sometimes, and so does the refs.”

On the elbowing penalty, Witkowski said it was a quick play.

“He’s on his knees. I think I let up on him. I don’t think I got him with my elbow, but I can’t say that I did or didn’t," Witkowski said.

“The second call, I know he couldn’t call the instigator because I didn’t instigate it. I didn’t even touch him. So I don’t know how you can call it roughing. If he doesn’t want to fight, he doesn’t have to drop his gloves. I didn’t make him fight.

“One of those refs has got it out for me, I think. He was in the minors with me, too.”

Witkowski said he played against Johns in college and that “he even said in the penalty box that that was a terrible call.”

More: While injured Red Wings heal, Dominic Turgeon getting comfortable

Jason Spezza scored during both power plays, the first time making it 2-1 and the second time, 3-2. The Wings didn’t help themselves with their inability to get shots on net – they were outshot, 26-15 – but playing shorthanded didn’t help.

The key for Witkowski is to play smart, but physical. That’s what he was signed to do, and that’s what he’s mostly done. He earned a 10-game suspension this season when he returned to the ice after being ejected by officials after a brawl during the Nov. 15 game against Calgary, but that was a rarity.

“I’m not a dirty player,” Witkowski said. “I had the suspension, but I don’t throw elbows. I don’t hit guys in the numbers. I like to think I’m pretty honest.”

Coach Jeff Blashill defended officials on the first call, but then went into great detail going over the sequence that led to the roughing call.

“The call in the first period, the elbow call – hockey is a fast game. Things happen fast. The refs don’t get a chance to hit stop and rewind and that kind of stuff. He didn’t touch him, but that’s going to happen sometimes.

“I’ll just walk you through the roughing penalty in the second. Dom Turgeon is going down the wall. He gets a hit from Johns. It was a good hit, clean hit, hard hit. Luke Witkowski is a forward. He’s on the forecheck, so he is already on his way – we want our guys to pursue the puck hard. His job is to make sure that he is physical on the forecheck and that he is skating hard. So he’s already on his way in.

“Then he skates in the corner, and he’s by Johns. Johns turns to him, Johns drops his gloves. They engage. Luke still has his gloves on, and there’s a roughing penalty. The explanation I got was that he got a roughing penalty for forcing the fight.

“I guess I will make some calls so I understand the call better. I don’t to this moment understand at all how that is a roughing penalty. I’m not sure if Luke is expected not to defend himself there, when the other guys drops his gloves first. I don’t know.”

Blashill dug out the NHL rule book during intermission, but didn’t get any answer that satisfied.

After what had happened the first two periods, Blashill only played Witkowski one shift in the third period.

“It looked a little bit like there was eyes out for him before the game started,” Blashill said. “So I talked to him on the bench just so he understood why I didn’t play him in the beginning part of the third, just because I thought it looked like if he did anything, it was going to be a penalty.

“So I didn’t play him, and that’s unfortunate. Luke has to do what Luke does in order to be effective. I think he has been a pretty effective player for us.”

Contact Helene St. James: hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames. Check out our Red Wings Xtra app on Apple and Android!