NY Rangers Ryan McDonagh's Injury a Result of NHL Official's One-Sided Calls?

Did it really need to come to Ryan McDonagh's illegal hit on Saturday's New York Rangers vs. Boston Bruins matchup to get the attention of the NHL officials? For anyone who watched that afternoon's game, it was obvious how one-sided the penalties were.  And yet the NHL wonders why they are losing viewers and are seeing more head injuries this year!

As was expected, the No. 1 and No. 2 leaders of the NHL went head-to-head in a very aggressive and intensely played game.  What was not to be expected was the Bruins going on the power play four times before the third period and the Rangers not having a single one up until that point.

The Bruins were issued two penalties during the second period, but they were both nullified by simultaneous Rangers penalties.

If the refs are going to let the teams play, then by all means let them play.  Just don't make it so darn obvious which team you are pushing to win by denying one team their share of rightful penalties and power-play opportunities.

The irony in all this is that the New York Rangers have been terrible on the power play as of late.

It wasn't until 10:46 in the third period that the refs finally opened their eyes and managed to catch a tripping penalty on the Bruins' David Krejci on Rangers' Brian Boyle, giving the Rangers their first power play of the game.

Chris Kelly for the Bruins received another tripping penalty at 15:29 on Ryan Callahan.  But, once again the Rangers were not able to capitalize on this opportunity.

Then at 1:50 gone by in OT the Bruins dispensed a dirty hit that not even the one-sided refs could try and deny.  Andrew Ference illegally charged a defenseless Ryan McDonagh (giving the Rangers a five-minute power play).

Ference was tossed out of the game and issued a 10-minute misconduct on top of his five-minute major. Then yesterday the NHL announced an additional three-game suspension without pay.

While the Rangers were able to benefit from Ference's nasty hit to win the game 3-2 with four seconds left in OT, if the refs had called the games a little more evenly throughout, maybe McDonagh wouldn't have had to have suffered in such a way.

Hopefully the NHLPA takes a much more scrutinous look at the way the officials are calling the games. I believe if they do so, they may just be able to diminish the number of illegal hits and subsequent increased concussions as a result.