We hereby conduct this week's Scouting the Refs Podcast...

The playoff officials working the next fortnight's games are out! Referee Mike Sullivan is... ready for it as he makes his NHL debut; Kevin Shattenkirk is guilty as sin for stickwork from the bench; refs would've, should've, could've called a penalty for Habs' Slafkovsky's stick flip, Flyers fans need to calm down when referee Kelly Sutherland thought 'don't blame me' after he waved off a goal when he lost sight of the puck, the Islanders' Kyle Palmieri is like 'look what you made me do' after a Rangers player pushes him offside, the Pittsburgh Penguins are wondering how did it end after two disallowed goals for interference, the Red Wings' Joe Veleno is fresh out the slammer after only two minutes for a dangerous boarding, Washington's Nick Jensen goes down bad after a hit from Tampa's Mikey Eyssimont, and Ottawa's Shane Pinto hits different - with no call - on the Rangers' Matt Rempe -- who, at 6'7", is definitely not the smallest man who ever lived. Tampa Nikita Kucherov is like 'who's afraid of little old me' after he did something bad with an elbow to the Caps' Tom Wilson, and I think he knows it.

(Sorry, nothing this week about Taylor Hall, the Swift Current Broncos, or Florida!!!)

Visit scoutingtherefs.com and follow @scoutingtherefs and @toddlewissports on Twitter/X, Instagram, and Threads. Email us your questions - [email protected] #RefsPodcast

Questions? Comments? Just looking to vent? Call the RefLine and leave us a message at 585-484-REFS! #RefsPodcast

The Scouting The Refs Podcast is a weekly look at the world of officiating and player safety within the National Hockey League, AHL, ECHL, and other leagues around the world. We'll break down the calls and the rules behind them to help understand why a penalty or suspension was - or wasn't - handed out.

Todd Lewis is a veteran broadcaster covering the NHL and other major league sports. Lewis is a former host on the NHL Network and on NHL Network Radio. He’s also worked for TSN, Sportsnet as a host/anchor and is a producer of other programs.

Josh Smith is the founder of Scouting the Refs, the leading independent site related to hockey officiating which follows hockey officials across the NHL, AHL, ECHL, and other leagues around the world, including news, rule changes and interpretations, suspensions, and statistics on officials and penalty calls. 

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