The Minnesota Wild lost to the Anaheim Mighty Friday night 2-4. The Ducks have been on a roll and they definitely brought their "A" game to the Xcel Energy Center.
What I would like to know is do the referees change the rules when the Anaheim Ducks play the Minnesota Wild? There were countless times during the game that a Wild player skated the puck into the neutral zone and dumped it into the Anaheim zone. After the Wild player dumped the puck, the Anaheim defenseman would step up and literally HOLD THE WILD PLAYER. Never once was it called a penalty.
Why don’t they call the obstruction penalty like they did right after the lock-out? By allowing the Anaheim Ducks to obstruct, they are preventing the Wild from utilizing their speed and excellent fore-checking. The referees didn’t call it last year in the NHL Playoffs and they didn’t call it Friday either. If they call that rule like it is supposed to be called, the Ducks would not be able to skate with the Wild and the Wild would probably have won the game. It is starting to feel like the "clutch and grab" NHL of three years ago.