Officiating a factor in Leafs' Game 1 loss

The Leafs' defeat last night was especially disheartening on the scoreboard.

In Game 1, the Leafs dropped a 5-1 decision to the Bruins and let the Bruins dictate the pace of the game all night.

The Leafs had their chances, but were unable to convert, while the Bruins found the back of the net early and often.

Losing game 1 in that fashion is not the greatest recipe for success if you're the Leafs.

There were 117 hits on the night, which was a tone-setting game for the series. It's going to be a tough ride, no matter what happens.

Unfortunately for the Leafs, the officiating has favoured the Bruins early on, which hasn't made life easy on Sheldon Keefe and the Leafs, now down 1-0 in the series.

The difference in how the referees viewed the Bruins' play versus how they viewed the Leafs' play was frustrating.

The lopsided officiating was never more evident than when Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy hit Pontus Holmberg hard in the numbers in the 3rd period, just after high-sticking him in the face.

There was no high-sticking call or boarding call on the play.

Sometimes the high-stick is missed, especially on a quick play like that. McAvoy slamming Holmberg into the boards right after that should have been called, though.

I'm baffled as to why that wasn't called. When you're calling ticky-tack penalties like this one, how can you not call that when you're calling this one?

Another prime example of how one-sided the officiating was occurred when Bruins forwards Jake McCabe and Jakub Lauko were battling in the corner behind the Leafs' goal line in the 3rd period.

McCabe first delivered a hit to Lauko, who was in possession of the puck, then Lauko accidentally landed on top of McCabe and had an arm wrapped around him, preventing him from getting up for a second. From there, McCabe gave Lauko, who still had the puck, a few shoves, resulting in an interference penalty.

The Bruins had a 6-3 penalty call advantage through most of the third period, until Brandon Carlo fired a puck over the glass from his own zone, forcing the officials to make an easy delay-of-game penalty call.

It's not the officials' fault that the Leafs couldn't convert on the power play, going 0/3 on the night, but if the penalty scaling is that one-sided and the Bruins are getting the advantage every game like that, it's going to be tough for them to get past it.

The Leafs have not received the benefit of the doubt very often when it comes to officiating. Sheldon Keefe has been fined multiple times for expressing his frustrations publicly when he gets after the officials during games for not doing their jobs.

McAvoy's pair of infractions back-to-back in a game where the Leafs spent so much time in the box is a pretty good indicator that the Leafs are officated differently.

The penalties weren't the whole reason the Leafs lost last night, but they certainly didn't help them either.