The worst call in the history of the NHL was made in last night's Canadiens-Flyers game: fans are confused

Fans of the Canadiens and Flyers woke up today scratching their heads as Arber Xhekaj was attacked by two players during a fight but he got the instigator.

The Montreal Canadiens held on for a tight 4-3 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday night to record their first back-to-back wins of the season. Through two periods of play, it looked as if the rest of this contest would wind its way to a conclusion in a rather unexciting, slow third period; that was until two late goals by the Flyers erased all the drama. What had been a comfortable 4-1 lead for the Habs suddenly looked precarious, with the Flyers pushing hard in the dying minutes to stage a comeback. In the end, though, Montreal weathered the storm and walked away with the win, but it was not without drama, both on and off the scoresheet.

One of the most talked-about moments of the game didn't come from the players themselves but from the officiating. The first questionable call came in a scrum between Arber Xhekaj, Sean Couturier, and Nick Seeler. In it, Couturier was the first to drop the gloves, and Seeler stepped in to pull him out of the scrum. Yet the referees decided to call only Xhekaj. Not only was the call one-sided, but it was shocking because it completely ignored the other two combatants involved.

That was no minor mistake; it was a major misstep that raised bigger questions with regard to officiating standards in the NHL. The Canadiens were fortunate that the call didn't impact the final outcome, but that doesn't negate the bigger issue. It almost seemed like the referees had it in for Xhekaj especially, something that has almost become routine with the former Canadien Brendan Gallagher, often on the wrong side of a call like this. In this case, that could easily have gone the other way on Seeler if not at least as an offsetting call for both teams.

The bottom line is, if the referees had called the rules evenly, Seeler might even have been ejected for his role in the altercation. His actions perhaps did not deserve that severe a penalty, but the rules could certainly have been interpreted that way to create either a power play for the Canadiens or offsetting penalties. Instead, the Flyers came out of the situation with an inexplicable power play, a decision that underlines that rules are selectively enforced by reputation rather than the action on the ice.

It demonstrates, in that case, an appalling double standard in the way some players are treated compared to others in the NHL. The referees were there to enforce the rules and equality among the teams, but a call like that one based on a player's reputation rather than the actual play leads one to believe it is business as usual. The fans will never get an explanation, nor will the league make it a public matter, but the integrity of the game is tested when the referees are not held responsible for such blatant lapses in judgment.

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