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“Those same officials are going to show up in another series. Do we want them officiating in the same manner? Perhaps no. It doesn’t take a series supervisor to know you didn’t do good enough.”

There were a combined nine penalties called in Boston’s 4-1 win in Game 2 — six more than were called in Toronto’s 4-1 win in Game 1. Based on the unofficial referees commenting on social media, there should have been a lot more, particularly against the Bruins.

There was the high-stick on John Tavares; the elbow from Jake DeBrusk that bloodied Travis Dermott; and the knee-on-knee hit that DeBrusk delivered on Nazem Kadri. All of them went uncalled, as referees Trevor Hanson and Brad Meier turned a blind eye and let the players mete out justice on their own.

In the process, they let the violence escalate. And made an embarrassment of a league that is supposedly concerned about a player’s safety.

So when Kadri cross-checked DeBrusk in the face as a retaliation for another questionable hit on Patrick Marleau that went uncalled, it was the result of a player who’s frustrations had boiled over. It was inexcusable. But at the same time, can you blame him? The referees had let the game get out of hand. If they weren’t going to do anything, then Kadri had little choice but to take matters into their own hands.

Photo by Adam Glanzman / Getty Images

“You get to a point in a referee’s mind where you don’t know what looks bad anymore,” said Lewis. “If you let something go at one end, then you’re saying to yourself, ‘well, I have to let it go at the other end.’ And you get mentally to the point where you have a hard time drawing a line in the sand. You get yourself stuck in quicksand on an ice surface that you really don’t like.