Texas Stars head coach lashes out on officiating after Game 2 loss to Abbotsford Canucks

Here’s a closer look at the Stars captain pushing Silovs’ pad:

But wait, there’s more.

Shortly after taking the lead, there was a faceoff outside the Canucks’ zone. Former Canuck draft pick Kole Lind had been getting under the skin of Silovs and the rest of the team. Phil Di Giuseppe and Lind were lined up beside one another for the faceoff, exchanging pleasantries, of course.

Once the puck dropped, Di Giuseppe stood up and faced Lind. Lind stands up, looks at Di Giuseppe, looking as though he’ll engage in the fight.

Di Giuseppe then drops his gloves and grabs Lind. However, Lind glued his gloves to his hands, as if to try and draw the penalty. We’ll give it to Lind, smart play to try and draw the penalty and send his team to the man-advantage.

But the refs did not see it that way. Again, after much deliberation, the refs assessed both players an unsportsmanlike penalty.

Graham had more words regarding that:

“Well, the tough part is, I wasn’t going to be afforded an explanation. When you see a player drop his gloves and go after one of your guys, and then it’s an evened-up call? I think an explanation is only warranted. They believe that our player used words to engage. For me, I don’t see the penalty there. So it’s a tough one, but at the end of the day, this is playoff hockey. We’re down in the series 2-0. We’re going to regroup as a team, and we’ll be ready for the next one.”

Here was the play:

After the game, the two teams were clearly frustrated with each other. Lind took another run at Silovs as the game concluded, and the rough stuff continued with a few Canucks getting into it with the Stars bench:

You can watch Graham’s full media availability here:

Graham and the Stars are not too pleased with the officiating and want the league to take a look into it and take action. Regardless of the outcome, the series now shifts to Texas for Games 3, 4 and 5, with the Abbotsford Canucks two wins away from a trip to the Calder Cup Finals.

This series is starting to heat up. You can watch the Canucks back in action on Monday, June 2, when they try to push the Stars to the brink of elimination.