Auston Matthews flips out at referee for ridiculous penalty!

There are less than three minutes to play in the game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Kraken in Seattle on Thursday night when superstar Auston Matthews gets called for a high sticking penalty.

Toronto is leading 3-1, the Kraken has an extra attacker with the empty net and now the Leafs lose their best player to the sin bin. Sure it happens. Except that, in this case, nothing happened!

As soon as the referee stopped the play to announce the penalty, Matthews was infuriated. On his way to the box, he could be heard yelling multiple f-bombs at the officials, which was unfortunately not kept in the TSN's post on X, but could be seen, and heard, loud and clear, on the live broadcast. 

Why? Because his stick never actually touched the face of Seattle’s Brandon Montour. The defenseman only played the part and fooled the referees, sending the Leafs ‘ captain away for two minutes.

Matthews’ stick hit Montour’s own which is what caught him, barely, close to his face. That’s not a penalty.

The Kraken did not manage to score on the power play and the Maple Leafs went on to win 3-1, extending their winning streak to three games.

I guess there is some justice there. Matthews’ frustration was quickly overshadowed by his team’s victory.

Come on refs, get it right!