Maple Leafs Head Coach Craig Berube Blasts Referees After Bad Calls in Game Against the Washington Capitals

On Friday night, the Maple Leafs and the Capitals, who are both leading their Divisions, faced off in an intense battle.

The Capitals won 3-1, but the score doesn't reflect the Leafs' performance. It wasn't the team's best game, but they played well and the referees made a few controversial calls against them.

Indeed, multiple penalties called against the Leafs were questionable, to say the least.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson got sent to the penalty box twice, and a case could be made that the two penalties shouldn't have been called.

First, he received a minor penalty for this high stick on Tom Wilson:

Later, referees called a slashing penalty after this play:

This prompted the Leafs' head coach Craig Berube to lash out at the referees.

Behind the bench, he shouted at them, giving them a piece of his mind about the two bad calls.

Watch his reaction in the video below:

At the end of the game, the Leafs had only two powerplay occasions, while the Capitals had four.

It's easy to blame the officials after the two debatable calls on Ekman-Larsson. But it doesn't change the fact that players must be more disciplined if they want to avoid penalties like these.

The Maple Leafs hope to see things turn in their favor tonight as they face the Pittsburgh Penguins.

As for Washington, they managed to capitalize on the opportunities and ended up with the two points. They will look to win their game against the Montreal Canadiens tonight to remain at the top of the Metropolitan Division.