NHL commissioner Gary Bettman emphasized in a conference call with media members Wednesday that referees have been ordered to maintain their vigilance in enforcing the league’s anti-obstruction standards in the upcoming playoffs.
Bettman said he had told NHL vice president Colin Campbell and director of officiating Stephen Walkom that “if an official puts his whistle away, they should put the official away for the rest of the playoffs.”
Walkom spoke with referees on a conference call earlier this week and will talk with them again Friday, the start of the playoffs. The Avalanche-Dallas Stars series begins Saturday in Dallas.
“We just want them to go out there and call the game the way they called it in the regular season and recognize that when they do, they’ll be supported,” Walkom said.
Avalanche defenseman Rob Blake served on the league’s competition committee, helping to come up with the new rules and standards. For the first part of the season, the players on the committee – including goalie Martin Brodeur of New Jersey, plus wingers Jarome Iginla of Calgary and Brendan Shanahan of Detroit – were in on conference calls with the league officials.
“Do I expect it to hold up the same as it has been in the regular season?” Blake asked. “Yes, I do. I think this is the first year it’s gone pretty much all season that way. Most of the time in the past, it starts that way, but it lightens up.
“It’s stayed that way in the regular season, and I’m sure they’re going to continue it in the playoffs.”
Blake’s stand has been that the only problem has been occasional “looks-like” type of calls, when referees call penalties without being certain what happened in a sequence. Other than that, he has been a staunch supporter of the crackdown.
Avalanche captain Joe Sakic said, “It should be the same way it’s been played all the regular season. If they keep calling it the same way, there should be no excuses.
“You shouldn’t change at playoff time from the way you’ve been calling it all year.”
Colorado coach Joel Quenneville said the league’s position “is good, because that’s what we did all year long.”
“You know how to play a certain way, and you don’t have to adjust to new standards (for the playoffs),” he said. “The refereeing, you expect it to be the same from start to finish of games, and even in series as they progress.
“It’s something that players in the course of the game will identify quickly. If it’s going to be a tight standard, you have to adjust quickly.”
In the opening series, the Avalanche could benefit if the standards remain stringent. Colorado’s average of 14.4 penalty minutes per game is the eighth-lowest in the league, while Dallas’ average of 18.2 is 25th. Only Washington, Phoenix, Nashville, Chicago and Pittsburgh had more minutes than the Stars.
Colorado was short-handed 447 times in the regular season, Dallas 504 times. The Avalanche’s 84.6 penalty-killing percentage was sixth-best in the league; the Stars’ 83.7 percent was 11th.
The Avalanche also had the better power play, with an 18.8 percent success rate to the Stars’ 17.7 percent.
Once the series starts, though, the numbers all are zeroes.
Terry Frei can be reached at 303-820-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com.
