For those not watching the game, Luke Hughes returned at the start of the 2nd period.

We are definitely witnessing the worst officiating games in decades

I think Torts handled that quite well.

For Torts standard he was really calm

NHL should be able to give fines to referees for bad calls like this to show them they need to smarten up. Especially, after they review the play.

That is just embarrassing. No accountability from the refs, instead they blame Hathaway for playing until the whistle. An absolute joke NHL. Changed the whole game.

Torts' post game presser could be epic

Someone give the refs a 5 minute misconduct, the late icing call is entirely their fault

Nice to see the refs double down and get it wrong twice instead of owning up to their mistake.

I know people complain about officiating normally, but my god this year they are incompetent. They even get it wrong when looking at the replay!

Watch the linesman on the first shot of the video. He is waving the icing (arms going out) and as the hit happens he brings his arm up and blow the whistle after the hit. What the hell was he thinking???

so many things wrong with this: 1. no indication from ref that it was indeed a potential icing call (no arm up) 2. if it was icing it shouldve been blown way earlier, when the puck first crossed the line 3. the whistle comes after the hit so play is technically still live 4. what in the world is Hughes doing? he's not in a playing position by any means making himself super vulnerable. either go hard for the puck or don't go for it, rather than doing some one-handed reach for the puck knowing there are other guys going straight for it. if icing was indeed waived off that is a clean hit and he gets hurt like he did there.

I'm blind, I'm deaf, I wanna be a ref!

NHL officiating at it's best... again! I've played, coached and officiated hockey, not at the NHL level, for over 40 years now and I still can't understand the calls in today's games.

Refs covered up their own mistake of not blowing the whistle sooner by giving Hathaway a major penalty… sad

Tortorella should be pissed, he has every right to be. The whistle was egregiously tardy, Hughes assumed it was going to be blown for icing, Hathaway continued to play because he didn't hear one. Siegenthaler maybe slightly pushing Hathaway...meh. No call, I can see. 2 minute penalty, I can see. 5 and a game misconduct?? IDTS. 🤨🤨

For once, the commentators got this absolutely right. I'm a ref, so it hurts to blame my colleagues, but dammit, the touch icing days are long over. If this is icing, it's gotta be blown dead at the hash marks. And if it's not, this is legal play. And all that ignores the push from Hughes' teammate. The fact that the refs discussed for so long, and listened to Tortorella's yelling for so long, means they know they may be wrong. And the worst part is how they talked themselves into confirming their own call "upon video review". Tough hit, and bad call.

Thats not a penalty. Whistle was blown after contact was made. Keep your head up kid

I've been watching and playing hockey for almost 30 years, I shouldn't be baffled by the calls made during the game at this point

As an avid ref fan, this has been a great season!

Wtf? So are players supposed to know when the ref intended to blow the whistle now live speed?

I'm not a Flyers fan but this is absolutely horrendous. Glad Hughes is ok after this but damn.. if anything was gonna be called here, maybe 2 for roughing at most. Wow.

Refs are to blame for any and all unnecessary injuries on this play. There is no question about it. Video in 4k HD

Furious? This was basically Torts saying hi

1:05 Refs sitting there whispering "we aren't hot mic'd right now yea? we aren't gonna get peeled for this right?"

he was clearly pushed, like what ?

Decades ago, the linesman used to put his hand up for icing immediately upon the puck being sent from the other side of the red line, and hold it there as a delayed signal until blowing a whistle if a touch-up was made. If something happened to wash out the icing he'd bring his arm down and give the washout signal and play would continue. The goalie would see the linesman with his hand up and put his glove up to let his skaters know to hurry up and chase it down to win the touch-up and that he was not going to leave his crease to handle the puck - but this was 100% based on the signal he was getting from the linesman. Now that they've switched to no-touch icing and the linesman doesn't put his hand up (pointlessly) until he blows the whistle, there's no way for the players on the ice to know that an icing call is imminent and that the should act accordingly.

A player still needs to read the situation. Even if it wasn't icing, you have to play the puck not the body there.

As a Boston fan, I’d go to war for Torts. One of the only ‘real’ coaches left in the league.

"Im blind, im deaf, i wanna be a ref"

thats a century too late for that whistle on the icing

LOL the reflection at 0:11 makes it seems like a ghost randomly appears and is wrestling with the Devils player in the scrum.

It's hits like that is the reason here is a no touch icing rule. The officials screwed up big time there.

Ref should be suspended for this. This was the whole point of the rule change for icing. What are we doing here?

😂🥊😆🇨🇦🇺🇸Absolutely love Torts

30 years ago that wouldn’t have even been a minor.

Minor league linesman literally blew the call.

The title focuses on Torts but then they cut the video short? He's still going as it ends there

I hate Torts, and I love seeing him upset. That being said, this is an awful call. Clown show refs

Its a boarding penalty not a roughing call after the whistle you can board somebody before during nd after the whistle this has to be flyers home announcing.

Where are the Bruce Hoods and John Damicos? The NHL is sure scraping the talent barrel these days. The whistle was late and this was a combination of a late whistle and an awkward fall into the boards.

That's furious? Thought that was rather tame by his standards.

That's very awkward to see a former Caps pushing another former Caps into a former Wolverine when I'm a fan of both :/

I honestly don't even know why they have video review anymore. They get more calls wrong now than they get right it seems like.

Tortorella should be furious at Hathaway. Hughes was vulnerable with that blind check from behind. 5min was the right call for boarding

😂thankyou Sportsnet 😁🇨🇦

I want to know what world the linesman was in when he thought about waiving that off. Luke had a noticeable step on both Flyers players. I don't blame him for letting up there expecting an icing.

I'm watching this with no sound. Was it icing? When did the whistle go?

istn that the same ref from the Bills-Eagles game?

Tortorella showed a lot of restraint here. He must be doing counciling and behavioral therapy.

Look at the body language of the linesman after Hughes is down. He knows.

NJD broadcasters, like the Philly broadcasters here, pointed out that the linesman was late with the whistle.

Nice to see torts mellowed out a bit over the years

100% clean hit!

"Icing happen when the puck come down. Bang! You know, nobody there. My arm go comes up , the play stop then start up." - Denis Lemieux

What was there to punish Hathaway?

You ever notice how consistent well run organizations never Hire John Totarella?

Is that not a boarding? Dangerous place relative to the boards

Years ago a lot more contact,different game now!We need more good hip checks,open ice clean checks,razzle dazzle,enter at your own risk!

Honestly in some cases coaches and players should be able to rant off on officials without the fear of getting fined or suspended. While they may not cost teams games, what we have seen over the years is that it's getting worse every year. This call right here helps confirm it.

Hathaway was penalized for “playing hockey while named Hathaway”

Not boarding. How embarrassing for these refs. And I am a Rangers fan so unbiased.

a clean hit. This is not ice ballet or figure skating.

Its the Spectrum all over again!!

Luke Ends up scoring the GWG

man luke hughes has been getting lit up this year, yikes.

I love how Siegenthaler grabs Hathaway and gets all these cheap shots in right in front of the refs and nothing happens to these incompetents.

Imagine an announcer blaming the officials for a players stupidity

Intent to blow the whistle here is like intent to brake at a red light. Doesn't actually count at all and doing the job would've prevented a collision.

I don’t even know what would compare to this as the worst call I’ve ever seen

Normally i disagree with torts antics and coaching ability but for once i agree with torts being pissed off on the refs on this one whistle should have been blown earlier and did i not see a push from siegenthaler? Like a boarding call.... really.....

I didn't think they could get the call any worse than that, then they call the WRONG call on a non major. Yikes.

I've watched very few well officiated games in the NHL this year. Refs have been the most pathetic I've seen in a very long time.

That wasn’t even boarding to begin with. Don’t understand how the NHL has let officiating get this bad.

The icing call was definitely blown, but that doesn't change the fact that it's still a boarding penalty any day of the week. He didn't get boarding because it was called icing...he would have got that even if it was waved off. Boarding that results in an injury is going to be a major every time. You can, and Torts argued that it's somehow up to Hughes to protect himself, but the responsibility lies on the attacking player, not the player being fouled. That's the rule.

When did Angel Hernandez get an NHL ref job?

That looked like hockey to me.

A linesman take responsibility for their screw up and admit it? Nah, screw up harder by reviewing it and standing by the call. What a joke

God damn that was intense. Glad Hughes is ok.

not here to say what the call should have been, but here is the rule in the nhl rulebook Rule 41 - A boarding penalty shall be imposed on any player who checks or pushes a defenseless opponent in such a manner that causes the opponent to hit or impact the boards violently or dangerously. The severity of the penalty, based upon the impact with the boards, shall be at the discretion of the Referee. There is an enormous amount of judgment involved in the application of this rule by the Referees. The onus is on the player applying the check to ensure his opponent is not in a defenseless position and if so, he must avoid or minimize contact. However, in determining whether such contact could have been avoided, the circumstances of the check, including whether the opponent put himself in a vulnerable position immediately prior to or simultaneously with the check or whether the check was unavoidable can be considered. This balance must be considered by the Referees when applying this rule. Any unnecessary contact with a player playing the puck on an obvious “icing” or “off-side” play which results in that player hitting or impacting the boards is “boarding” and must be penalized as such. In other instances where there is no contact with the boards, it should be treated as “charging.”

Love Torts never a dull moment .😂

Get those damn ads off the boards

Another reason why this call was so bad and few people are mentioning it. The boarding call by the NHL rule book is a hit from behind. Hathaway hit him in the chest. By rule, boarding actually does not even apply.

this call is the exact scenario with Cale Makar and Mcann in the playoffs. you cant hand out majors and ejections because you dont know how to whistle a play in time. god awful officiating in sports these days and it's rigging games.

We the referees for this game have decided that instead of being accountable for our mistake of not blowing the whistle quickly enough, we’re going to deflect blame to the player for our screw up since we don’t have the emotional maturity to own our mistakes.

That is crazy!! Kicked the guy for there mistake and watched the review!!

Ranger fan here. No penalty in my opinion. Referee blew the call. Hathaway playing to the whistle and the whistle was blown late.

That’s textbook boarding though?

It's boarding whistle or not. Hughes heard the whistle why not Hathaway ?

Luke Hughes scored the game winner in OT.

"Do I ever win ?"

Tortilla always putting up a show

Hughes needs to wake up before he’s hurt bad, twice now getting fucken bundled not expecting a hit

Players don't know how to protect themselves along the boards anymore.

Ref doesn’t blow the whistle until after car wreck lol😂

The call was BOARDING. Not a late hit. It was boarding.

heads up bud

Welcome to the National, wonderkid

People are actually acting like this is a soccer game and not the NHL. Any time your near a player from the other team, you should brace for, and expect contact.

Siegenthaler also pushes him and he loses balance you can see his right foot come up and can't be used to slow down. But it's a minor for charging at worst