The ref drama in the NHL this year? Yeah, it’s been hotter than a playoff overtime; fans have been losing it over missed calls, weird decisions, and what some are calling full-on ref bias. And now, guess who’s the latest one caught in the chaos? Yup, it’s Matthew Tkachuk. The stripes have been under the spotlight all season long, but things really started to bubble during that round two clash between the Leafs and the Panthers. Sam Bennett elbowed goalie Anthony Stolarz right in the noggin, clear as day, and somehow… no whistle, no penalty, no nothing. It left fans scratching their heads, and even Elliotte Friedman wasn’t letting it slide.

On the 32 Thoughts podcast, Friedman didn’t hold back while chatting with Kyle Bukauskas, saying, “I thought it should have been a penalty. I even got referees who said to me they didn’t think that was a penalty, and I was like, You guys have got to be kidding me. Like, that’s a penalty…” He even drew a little comparison for spice, adding, “Connor Brown got a penalty in the third period for bumping Aiden Hill like it wasn’t really a dirty play or anything like that. He was going through the crease and there was contact and he was trying to score.” So now, with Tkachuk caught in the latest ref mess, the NHL’s striped squad might just be skating on some seriously thin ice.

Midway through the game with the Canes holding on to a 1-0 lead over the Panthers, B/R Open Ice decided to stir the pot on X with a spicy little mid-game clip. The caption? “Jordan Staal was called for a hook… and Matthew Tkachuk was called for embellishment on the play.” Classic NHL chaos. The video showed Tkachuk going for the puck when out of nowhere, Jordan Staal swooped in trying to make a clean steal, but things went off-script real quick.

Instead of a clean takeaway, Staal’s stick ended up getting all tangled up in Tkachuk’s gear. One second they’re fighting for control, the next they’re twisted up like spaghetti and bumping down to the ice. It was messy. It was very NHL playoffs. And that whole sequence? Yeah, it earned both of them a little trip to the sin bin; one for hooking, the other for turning it into a full-blown theatre production.

No shocker, fans came through with the gold, dropping lines like, “Jordan Staal went fishing and Matthew Tkachuk was caught.” Honestly? Couldn’t have said it better. It looked like Tkachuk was the fish of the day, and Staal just caught the fish. But this was just the tip of the iceberg!

Fans rally behind Matthew Tkachuk as refs face the heat!

Matthew Tkachuk’s name and drama go together like sticks and ice, but this time, the plot’s got a twist. One fan straight-up nailed the vibe, saying, “Look – a Tkachuk embellishment isn’t unrealistic as he does it all of the time. BUT this time isn’t one of them, not even close.” Yup, that’s the tea. Just last month, Tkachuk was the main character in a different kind of chaos. After bouncing back from his injury at the Four Nations Face-Off, he came back swinging; literally. While he helped the Panthers grab an early lead over the Lightning, Game 3 turned icy cold real fast. Lightning clapped back with a 5-1 blowout win, and in the middle of it all, Tkachuk delivered a monster hit to Jake Guentzel that had his face bouncing off the ice.

And while fans and even Guentzel expected the league to hit pause on Matthew Tkachuk, NHL Player Safety chose the ol’ ghost mode instead. Guentzel had said, “I passed the puck and it felt like a long time after I got hit. I’m sure the league’s going to take a look at it… I’m sure they’ll do their job.” But turns out, that hit didn’t even earn Tkachuk a hearing. He did eat a major penalty and a ticket to the locker room that night, and fans were definitely heated. Fast forward to now? The vibe’s flipped. Instead of pitchforks, fans are waving flags of support, with one even saying, “Uh we’re getting a little crazy with embellishment calls here.” So yeah, Tkachuk might be the usual mischief-maker, but this time, folks are calling out the refs, not the rebel.

Another user jumped in with the ultimate shrug of disbelief, saying, “Tkachuk has embellished for sure but that probably was one of the weaker ones.” And honestly? That kinda sums up the mood in the NHL streets lately. ‘Cause let’s be real; this season’s not just about the goals, glove saves, or chirps from the bench. Nope, it’s also been sprinkled with a healthy serving of ref drama, and not the fun kind. Remember that elbow from Sam Bennett to Panthers goalie Anthony Stolarz in Round 2? Everyone saw it… except the guys wearing stripes. Fans lost it, and NHL’s own Elliotte Friedman wasn’t shy either.

On the 32 Thoughts podcast, he said straight-up, “I thought it should have been a penalty… Like, that’s a penalty.” Dude even called out his ref buddies for defending it and pointed to how Connor Brown got called for less in a Vegas-Edmonton game. And just when you think the zebra drama couldn’t get any messier, Evan Rodrigues entered. SportsNet hit X with a clip of him heading off after getting flattened by Scott Laughton; his stick went flying like a paper airplane and everything. But get this: Rodrigues got two for embellishment, while Laughton got four for roughing. Fans were instantly in full keyboard warrior mode, one yelling, “League needs to sort out their officiating. What a joke.” And that’s just a little taste.

Go back to Game 1 when Leafs lost 5-4 to Florida; nobody was talking about the score, they were all heated over that Sam Bennett elbow and the so-called “phantom trip” on Reinhart that somehow never got whistled. Toronto coach Craig Berube even said, “Elbow to the head, clear as day… but that’s clearly a penalty.” And with insider Dylan adding, “The no-call on Reinhart being tripped… the refs definitely have not helped them,” it’s safe to say these playoff calls are serving more chaos than clarity. No wonder fans are out here screaming, “Horrendous embellishment call, HORRENDOUS.”