The NHL is looking into comments from a referee during Tuesday’s Red Wings game against Nashville that he “wanted” to call a penalty on the Predators.
Referee Tim Peel called Predators forward Viktor Arvidsson for tripping at 4 minutes 56 seconds of the second period, a call questioned immediately by broadcasters and people on social media as quickly as it happened.
Caught on a microphone nearby, Peel or, possibly, referee Kelly Sutherland said, “it wasn’t much but I wanted to get a (expletive) penalty against Nashville early in the…” as the audio goes out.
Arvidsson was mystified as he was called – and the Nashville broadcasting team went as far as speculating Wings’ defenseman Jon Merrill was being called for embellishment.
Red Wings broadcasters Ken Daniels and Mickey Redmond sounded confused about the call, watching from the Fox Sports Detroit studio.
Nashville killed the penalty and went on to defeat the Red Wings 2-0.
The NHL immediately began investigating the incident, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, but it is unclear how either, or both, referees would be disciplined.
Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill and forward Dylan Larkin were not asked during a Zoom media call after the game about the incident.
Nashville coach John Hynes said after the game he expected the NHL to take care of the matter.
“The big thing is this: You always want to have things that are going to be fair and for your team,” said Hynes when asked about the referee’s comments. “It probably doesn’t matter how I feel about it in general, but the referees are employees of the league. Rather than me comment, I think it’s an issue that I think the league will have to take care of.”
ted.kulfan@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @tkulfan