VANCOUVER — Dan O'Halloran and Kelly Sutherland will be making the calls once again in Game 4 on Wednesday at the TD Garden.
That pair will serve as the night's referees for the second time in this Stanley Cup Final, after working Game 2 together in Vancouver. The Canucks won that game 3-2 in overtime, with the Bruins going 1-for-3 on the power play and Vancouver 1-for-2.
That was by far the least penalized game of the series. With Stephen Walkom and Dan O'Rourke working the other two games, the teams combined for 14 penalties, but were each 0-for-6 on the power play in Game 1, and had 125 penalty minutes — including seven misconducts, three majors and a game misconduct — called in Game 3.
With the league trying to crackdown on the extracurricular activity in the series, Wednesday's game could produce some full penalty boxes as well. But Bruins coach Claude Julien isn't concerned with any issues relating to the officiating and doesn't think the Bruins' physical style of play will be affected.
"I don't see an issue there," Julien said. "They got what they consider the best referees for the Finals. Those guys have a lot of experience. They can deal with that. I think as much as it's exciting for people to watch these kind of games that have more or less a clean, physical aspect to it, I think if we're trying to sell the game as an exciting game, you have to let those things happen.
"They're no different," Julien added of the referees. "They've done a great job. We're down 2-1. I have no complaints about the referees. If we're down 2-1, I'm looking at our team, what we didn't do right more than the referees. I don't think they had any impact on any of the outcomes of the game. I expect it to continue that way."
O'Halloran was one of the two refs who worked the penalty-free Game 7 against Tampa Bay, but he also worked Game 4 of that conference final, which featured nine penalties as the Lightning rallied from a 3-0 deficit to win 5-3. He also worked Game 3 against Montreal, a 4-2 Bruins win with 11 penalties called, and Game 3 of the Philadelphia series, a 5-1 Boston win with eight penalties called.
Sutherland worked Game 6 against Tampa, a 5-4 Bruins loss with 10 penalties and a 3-for-4 night on the power play by the Lightning. He also worked Game 2 of that series, a 6-5 Bruins win with 14 penalties, and Game 7 against Montreal, which the Bruins won 4-3 in overtime.
The linesmen for Game 4 will be Jay Sharrers and Jean Morin.
