The morning after his team gave back home-ice advantage, Nashville Predators head coach Barry Trotz was still unhappy and not just with the call that led to the overtime winner but also the one that led to the Vancouver Canucks' first goal of the contest.
"I still stand by what I said yesterday," Trotz said of the penalty against team captain Shea Weber that paved the way for Ryan Kesler's overtime winner. "I thought it was really light. I thought it was embellished."
Kesler drew the penalty midway through the extra period to gave the Canucks the decisive power play. He stayed bent over, trapping Weber's stick while the defenceman pounded on him, trying to get his stick back. Weber was sent off for hooking on the questionable call.
Kesler begged to differ with Trotz's opinion on the call.
"That's the rule - get your stick parallel to the ice - and it was in my gut," Kesler said. "Obviously he was impeding my progress, so that's the right call. I don't make the calls, so it's not my job."
Trotz was just as upset with a call on Predators forward Jerred Smithson for a high-stick on Roberto Luongo in the first period, suggesting the Canucks' goaltender embellished the play.
"When Smithson got the penalty, he just moved the stick over Luongo's mask and all of a sudden, after the stick goes to the other side of his head, he kicks back and (Smithson) gets a penalty," said Trotz.
"To me, that's gamesmanship and I understand that, but it's also putting referees in a tough spot," he continued. "We have the best referees and if you're going to make them look bad, I don't think it's needed in the game."
Luongo denied any embellishment on his part following Wednesday's optional skate.
"There was contact made with my mask and I just turned my head," Luonog said. "I didn't throw myself on the floor or anything like that. You can ask Smithson, he did make contact with my head."
Canucks winger Alexandre Burrows echoed his netminder's sentiments, saying that the officials have a tough enough job to do.
"Obviously I don't think we're trying to sell any penalties," Burrows said. "We're working hard and trying to get to those loose pucks first, and if the refs think it's a penalty, then it's a penalty. You have to deal with it. We've had a few calls going against us in this series and against Chicago, and we just have to buckle down and go kill the penalty."
