Anyone else on this board notice how the officiating in the NHL is slowly deteriorating to the level commonly seen in other sports such as the NBA? I couldn't help but realize how bad it was in the final two minutes of the Coyotes @ Red Wings game on Tuesday night. There were three very bad calls that night:

6:26 of the 2nd Period - 17 Fedoruk - 2:00 - Goaltender Interference

What happened here is that Fedoruk was screening Osgood in front of the crease in the Detroit zone. Osgood, evidently angry that Fedoruk was doing a good job, took his stick and shoved Fedoruk's legs out from under him, causing him to fall backwards and make contact with Osgood. The officials promptly called Fedoruk for interference on the goaltender.

14:24 of the 3rd Period - 43 Helm - 2:00 - Goaltender Interference

This one could go either way, but I'll list it here as it did make a difference in the game.

Here's the worst call of the game, which, in my opinon, should get both Dennis LaRue and Stephane Auger suspended for the remainder of the season at least.

19:14 of the 3rd Period - 26 Perrault - 2:00 - Hooking

At this point in the game, the score was tied at 4 a piece and the Coyotes were on the attack. As the puck went to the far side boards deep in the Detroit zone, Joel Perrault made a move towards the puck, clearly. However, while he was moving towards the puck, Marian Hossa jumped infront of Perrault and fell to the ice after only coming in contact with the side of the shaft of Perrault's stick. The official that was only a few feet from the play did not make a call, but the official on the close side of the ice off in the neutral zone, decided to make the call and call Perrault for hooking. Upon showing numerous replays, it is obvious that Hossa made contact with Perrault, who was already making a move to the puck, after deviating from his own path to the puck. By rule, this constitutes an interference penalty on Hossa, yet neither official made the call. However, even after that missed penalty, the only part of Perrault's stick which made contact with Hossa was the side of the shaft, and Perrault's stick clearly never wrapped around Hossa at all. However, you can tell that Hossa dives (which can now be penalized and fined as a result of the Collective Bargaining Agreement) as he is leaning backwards and then proceeds to, without any contact from Perrault, twist and fall to the ice in a manner that made it appear that Perrault did in fact get his stick into Hossa's abdomen. So, even though the only two penalties on this play should have been Hossa (2:00 for Interference, 2:00 for Diving), the only player who got a penalty was Joel Perrault.

Normally, this wouldn't have been such a big deal, just another blown call. However, this penalty allowed Detroit to score on the power play (which they should have never had) with only 39 seconds left in the game. Naturally, this was not enough time for Phoenix to mount a come back, and we lost.

What was further frustrating is that the Coyotes SHOULD have beat Detroit, but due to the poor officiating, we lost. Phoenix had lost 4 games straight going into Tuesday's game (which was the second game in as many nights), having only scored, I believe, 2 goals among those games. Due to the officiating in Tuesday's game, we have now lost 5 straight, without getting a single point, even though we should have AT LEAST gotten one point out of a regulation tie in the game against Detroit. Now, Phoenix has fallen behind even further in the standings.

Whats the NHL?