I can’t believe I watched the referees ruin another playoff game. As Darren Oliver stated after one period of play, “the reffing was atrocious.”

Despite outplaying Tampa Bay with many more shots on goal, it stayed 0-0 for two periods. Try sustaining momentum with one dirty team allowed to poke and prod and then the refs put you in the penalty box. Ai-yi-yi. The injustice is overwhelming in this world sometimes.

We stormed out of the gate, pelting their goal. We overcame the clutching and grabbing to reach our own power play. But shortly after, it was took away on a worthless call against Abdelkader. Later in the first, a period we dominated, Zetterberg went to the box for nothing at all.

We used up all this energy throughout the series to overcome their dirtiness, and the refs drained us of the rest. As soon as the third period began, they called a delay of game on an errant pass. Although we killed every power play, it seemed to cost us the goals we deserved.

The Red Wings also skated without one of their true leaders, the man who plays more minutes for them than anyone else, Niklas Kronwall. We’re trying to keep our heads up and continue playing while our legs are being cut out from under us. Jacob Kindl and our Griffin Marchenko filled in nicely on defense in Kronwall’s absence.

The only way the Lightning could finally score was to cheat. They pushed two of our guys down behind the net, then laid down on top of one of them while passing to an open player. Go figure, he got open. They tried it again minutes later, only to have it waved off for a 4-on-4. Then the clock simply expired.

If the NHL, NFL, and NBA don’t stop this crisis in officiating, no will want to come to the games anymore, let alone watch on TV. The game is always evolving and getting faster, so if the referees can’t keep up, get younger more athletic ones who will. You owe it to us after all the hard work we put in all fucking season.

It was a joy watching you play all year, Detroit. Once again, you made those playoffs. The rest of the world doesn’t even know it yet, but we’re building another Stanley Cup contender. All our Grand Rapids Calder Cup Champions, including Tomas Tatar, Gustav Nyquist, and Petr Mrazek played outstanding and will continue to get better. Thank you, Red Wings – rest up for next season.