Tampa Bay Lightning F Ryan Callahan Gets Double Minor For Face Wash (Video)

Tampa Bay Lightning forward Ryan Callahan gets sent to the penalty box for two separate roughing penalties for a simple face wash to Thomas Hickey.

The Tampa Bay Lightning knew coming into Game 4 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn they were going to be faced with a very physical game from a New York Islanders team who is desperate to even the series before having to make the trip back to the Amalie Arena in sunny Tampa, Florida. What no one could possibly prepare for was how ridiculously one-sided the calls would be in the first period of the game.

We here at Bolts By The Bay are sure this article is going to come off as nothing more than a bitter fan whining about the horrific officiating in the National Hockey League this season. While we will admit we are a bit saddened by how absolutely horrific the officiating in the league has become across the board, we make no excuses when our team makes a bad play.

After New York Islanders right wing Steve Bernier had taken a shot at the head of Ben Bishop, to which the Islanders actually received the power play for, tensions continued to mount between these two Eastern Conference opponents who still had plenty of carryover from Game 3 on Tuesday night.

As the Tampa Bay Lightning continued to fight back in an effort to put the puck past Islanders goaltender Thomas Greiss and into the back of the net, time continued to tick off the clock faster than ever. After Tampa Bay Lightning right wing Mike Blunden made a hard hit on Islanders defenseman Thomas Hickey, things heated up between Hickey and Callahan. This resulted in a face wash from Callahan to Hickey.

As the referees sped over to break up the action, Callahan gave Hickey one last sniff of his glove for good measure. According to the referees, this was worth a four-minute trip to the sin bin for Ryan Callahan. That’s right, ladies and gentlemen…Ryan Callahan was sent to the penalty box for four minutes for nothing more than a face wash, or “Roughing” as the referees called it.

Let’s be real here. The worst thing that happened to Hickey is he got a sniff of Ryan Callahan’s sweaty glove, he went a little cross-eyed from the sweat smell, and then moved on with his life. We could totally see a double minor to Callahan had any real punches been thrown or any blood was prevalent, but a face wash? Seriously, give us all a break.

Surprisingly enough, there is a bright side to all of this. The most important aspect of this is the Tampa Bay Lightning’s penalty squad played an excellent four minutes and were able to keep the Islanders out of the back of the net while the Lightning was down a man. Also, this may very well have been the push in the right direction the Tampa Bay Lightning need to get back into this game.

Next: Steven Stamkos and the Impending Free Agency

There is still plenty of hockey to be played tonight between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the New York Islanders. If there is anything we can tell you with one hundred percent certainty is things haven’t finished heating up just yet. We’re sure there is going to be plenty more physical play between these two teams and many nice, warm seats in the sin bin over the next 40 minutes of play.