Oilers HC Kris Knoblauch makes his stance clear on penalty call bias in Game 3 loss to Panthers

Edmonton Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch made his feelings known regarding what he perceived to be a bias in the way officials called penalties against his team in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup playoffs on Monday night.

The Oilers racked up 85 penalty minutes on the night, the third-most in a Stanley Cup Final game in NHL history. While the Florida Panther racked up 55 of their own, it seemed as though the officiating, at least in Knoblauch’s point of view, was tilted against the Oilers.

During his media availability on Tuesday, Knoblauch had this to say about his perceived penalty bias in Game 3 against the Panthers:

“There's always missed calls. Both teams are going to say, you know, they missed that, they missed a high stick, whatever it is, and you just hopefully, over the long run, even all that it evens out.”

Knoblauch referred specifically to the barrage of penalties called against the Oilers in the third period of Game 3:

“And, you know, there's some takeout in the third period. That's, that's another thing. All those penalties that were called against us in the third period absolutely shouldn't have called.”

Among the calls was a game misconduct on Evander Kane for slashing Carter Verhaeghe. Additionally, Darnell Nurse, Trent Frederic, and Mattias Ekholm got misconducts for a battle royale midway through the third period.

Lastly, Kasperi Kapanen got the Oilers' fifth game misconduct for a cross-check against Eetu Luostarinen.

Knoblauch concluded that discipline will be crucial for his team moving forward:

“It's important for us to be disciplined and not going to the penalty box.”

Check out Knoblauch's comments from the 1:05 mark on:

All told, the Panthers went 3-for-11 with the man advantage. Considering the game resulted in a 6-1 rout, those three power play goals could have made a significant difference in giving Edmonton a chance to win the game.

Edmonton Oilers blue liner fined twice for Game 3 shenanigans

Jake Walman got fined twice for his Game 3 antics- Source: Imagn

Edmonton Oilers defenseman Jake Walman got slapped with two fines on Tuesday, the NHL’s Department of Player Safety (DoPS) announced.

The first fine was related to a roughing call on the Panthers’ Matthew Tkachuk.

Here’s a look at the incident:

Walman’s defense partner John Klingberg had Tkachuk in a headlock as Walman proceeded to land punches on the helpless Panthers’ forward. Klingberg eventually released Tkachuk who then managed to defend himself.

The incident cost Walman a $5,000 fine, the maximum allowed under current CBA rules.

The second fine Walman was issued pertained to unsportsmanlike conduct involving the Panthers’ bench.

This video shows Walman’s antics including the bench incident:

The replay showed Walman tossing water across the ice at the nearest Florida player. The shenanigans cost Walman another penalty and $5,000 additional in fines.

No suspension is expected for Walman as the fines have served as enough warning for both incidents. However, one has to think that Walman could be treading a fine line as a suspension could be forthcoming for additional stunts.