The Referee Report: 2nd Round Edition

Earlier this season we took a look at the power play/penalty kill differential for every team in the league to gain a better understanding of which team may (or may not) benefit from penalty calls during games. Some of you asked to see a similar analysis for the postseason, and because we aim to please, your wish is our command. The first round report can be found by clicking here.

Teams in bold are teams that played in the second round.

Power Play vs. Shorthanded Comparison
Team	Power Play	Shorthanded	Dif.
Pittsburgh Penguins	67	49	+18
Boston Bruins	43	27	+16
Detroit Red Wings	53	40	+13
Chicago Blackhawks	51	44	+7
St. Louis Blues	24	18	+6
San Jose Sharks	24	22	+2
New York Rangers	31	33	-2
New Jersey Devils	27	29	-2
Philadelphia Flyers	30	33	-3
Carolina Hurricanes	46	51	-5
Anaheim Ducks	44	50	-6
Calgary Flames	18	24	-6
Vancouver Canucks	44	51	-7
Columbus Blue Jackets	14	22	-8
Montreal Canadiens	8	16	-8
Washington Capitals	52	65	-13

-- Capitals fans might not like this, but the Penguins had a sizable power play advantage in their seven-game series win, jumping from the middle of the pack in the opening round, all the way to the top of the chart following the second round. The good news for the Penguins is they finally started to take advantage of their opportunities as the series progressed, converting on five of their final 11 power plays in Games 5-7. I suppose you could argue that the Penguins' drastic advantage in the shots department was the result of having 15 more power plays in the round. On the other hand, you could also argue that the amount of time Pittsburgh spent in the offensive zone led to Washington taking more penalties.

-- The Detroit-Chicago match up should be interesting. Both teams draw a lot of penalties, both teams have lethal power plays, and both teams have struggled in the postseason in shorthanded situations. The Red Wings enter the conference finals killing off only 72 percent of their penalties, while Chicago boasts the top power play unit (29.4 percent)

-- Boston was 2-for-27 with the man advantage against Cam Ward and the Carolina Hurricanes, including a combined 0-for-6 in its two overtime losses in Games 3 and 7. Through the opening two rounds, Carolina has allowed only five goals in its 54 shorthanded situations.

Now, onto the officials. From what I can see, Mike Hassenfratz, Don Van Massenhoven, Chris Rooney, Dan O'Rourke, Brad Meier, Ian Walsh, Chris Lee and Wes McCauley were first round officials that were not used in the second round. Here's the data (not including fighting majors) for the second round.

The Referees
Referees	Games	Penalties	Penalties/Game
Brad Watson/Tim Peel	4	74	18.5
Dave Jackson/Kevin Pollock	5	56	11.2
Kelly Sutherland/Marc Joannette	4	40	10.0
Paul Devorski/Marc Joannette	1	10	10.0
Paul Devosrki/Dennis Larue	4	35	8.5
Mike Leggo/Dan O'Halloran	4	30	7.5
Bill McCreary/Eric Furlatt	4	28	7.0
Dan O'Halloran/Bill McCreary	1	4	4.0

-- Brad Watson and Tim Peel were involved in some high-profile moments in the second round. They were the officials in the two most penalized games -- Vancouver vs. Chicago Game 2, and Boston vs. Carolina Game 5 -- while they were also the officiating duo in Game 3 of the Red Wings vs. Ducks series that had the quick whistle, negating what would have been Marian Hossa's game-tying goal in the closing minutes.

The NHL defended Watson's quick whistle, telling Bruce Ciskie: "As there is a human factor involved in blowing the whistle to stop play, the Referee may deem the play to be stopped slightly prior to the whistle actually being blown ... The fact that the puck may come loose or cross the goal line prior to the sound of the whistle has no bearing if the Referee has ruled that the play had been stopped prior to this happening. Also, as you know, determining the precise timing of a whistle blow is not one of the circumstances subject to video review."

-- Three of the four referees that called the most penalties in the opening round (Van Massenhoven, Hassenfratz, and Rooney) were not used in the second round.

We'll update all of these numbers after the conference finals.