Darryl Sutter doesn't often criticize officials, but with his team on the brink, he's drawing attention to them.
The Los Angeles Kings head coach believes his team should have been on the man advantage more often after losing 3-2 in Game 4 and falling behind 3-1 in the series.
"I know the theme today is: 'San Jose's power play.' I'd say the game for me is, 'How come we didn't have more?'" Sutter told reporters Thursday night, according to Lisa Dillman of the Los Angeles Times.
"We have a good power play too. There's missed calls in the third period. When it's 3-2, there should've been some calls, clearly. There's two hooking, tripping penalties, they've got to call them. I mean, if they're going to call what they did call …
"There (have been) a lot of special teams in this series. They've scored five and we've scored three and a short-handed goal, so they're plus one - but plus-one might've been (the difference) last night, and we might've been playing overtime until 3 this morning if they'd have given us one more. We didn't get the call."
The Sharks converted on five of their 18 power-play chances in the series, while the Kings scored three times in 13 opportunities with the man advantage.
Sutter says he's spoken to the supervisor of officiating for the series every day.
"It's not in a (complaining) mode, or a correction-officer mode," he said. "It's just, 'What'd you think?' or 'Should've that been?'
"We've seen some funny ones this series, if you look at it. Five-on-three they scored, and neither (referee) knew that the other guy was calling the penalty. But it is what it is. It's the first round, and they go from how many officials down to who they feel are the 20 best referees. You know what? Those guys are trying to get another round too, so it's not easy for them."
Game 5 is Friday night at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
