Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

The next time someone says the refs hate the Colorado Avalanche, take that person seriously. The receipts can cover up the entire state.

I was really excited over the Oilers/Avs. Who wouldn't be? MacKinnon vs McDavid, a flashback to the 2022 West Final, you name it. Of course, it'll come with the usual bias from refs. They love the Oilers. Oilers have been Power Play merchants for the last five years. It continued in this game. We scored in the first minute again, but Edmonton got a PP because we breathed on McDavid. That's the rule, folks. If you breathe on McDavid, that's a penalty. If you look at him the wrong way, that's a double minor.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins ties it, but on our own PP, Martin Necas puts it in. We have really enjoyed this whole "scoring PPGs" thing lately. Jack Roslovic ties it late, and it's 2-2 after 20. Oilers take the lead in the second because if you interfere with the goalie, it's a goal.

Now let's talk about about the pic above.

Final minute of the frame, Nathan MacKinnon's going for the net, and he bowls into Connor Ingram. They called a penalty. Here's the thing: Darnell Nurse caused all of that. Nurse shoved Mack into Ingram, who was bloodied and injured as a result. Yet not only are they saying penalty, the word "major" started popping up. Immediately, I'm getting flashbacks to Calle Rosen shoving Nazem Kadri into Jordan Binnington in the 2022 playoffs (a fact some Blues fans still refuse to admit). It is clearly not a penalty. Nurse caused all of the contact. All of it. Yet the verdict:

Five minute major on Mack, and a game misconduct. Mack's first one ever.

I spent the entire intermission hurling expletives. Nurse shoves Mack into Ingram, yet Mack not only gets penalized, he gets booted?! There's pro-Oilers bias and then there's this. Not even the Vegas Golden Knights get favored like this! And this is nothing new. Refs have always hated MacKinnon. I've seen MacKinnon on the receiving end of actual dirty hits, yet refs do nothing and NHL Player Safety does even less. To them, if an Avs player gets injured from being on the receiving end of something dirty, that's just God's will. Yet Nazem Kadri has been suspended for much less.

And here's the thing. The TNT announcers disagreed with the major call. The in-studio guys, especially Tuukka Rask (a goalie!) said that's not even a penalty. And note that none of Ingram's teammates went after Mack. Usually, when something like that happens to a goalie, the teammates go after the culprit. The Oilers knew Nurse caused all of that. Yet Dallas Stars fans are pretending MacKinnon's the modern day Todd Bertuzzi. Fans of a team who has Jamie Benn and used to have guys like Mason Marchment (aka the NHL's Draymond Green) and Corey Perry are calling a Lady Byng Trophy winner "dirty." Seriously, Stars fans, fuck off.

Miraculously, we killed off the major PP. We also tied the game, but Connor McDavid gave the lead back to Edmonton on yet another PP they shouldn't have had. Nicolas Roy was penalized for being held by one of the Oilers. That's what happened.

The score held up, and I present to you, the true MVPs for the Oilers:

I've written almost 2000 stories on Vocal, and I have never featured AI anything on here, but I have to break that trend here. To say that the refs handed this game to Edmonton would be an understatement. I'm used to the refs favoring Edmonton; been like that for the last five years. I hate losing to the Oilers, but if it was kosher, on the up and up, I'd have to have no choice but to grin and bear it. Even if it had the usual fleeting moments of pro-Oilers bias, I would have vented a bit, but I'd have that "Next team up" mentality. This? Unacceptable. A huge asterisk should be placed on this. The Oilers only "won" because they got handed every PP, and the refs took out MacKinnon for something he didn't even do. In fact, we had Landeskog, Lehkonen, and O'Connor out, and they still needed the refs help. That tells me all I need to know about the 2025-26 Oilers.

Avs will be off to the Pacific Northwest on Thursday, as we face the Seattle Kraken. After that, we'll cross the border and face off against the Winnipeg Jets.

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