John Tortorella: Winter Classic Officiating Was “Disgusting”

New York Rangers head coach John Tortorella called the officiating in the third period of Monday’s NHL Winter Classic “disgusting,” according to Yahoo! Sports.

"It started with the non-call [when] Gabby was pitch-forked in the stomach, and then everything starts going against us,” Tortorella said after the game. “They're two good referees; I thought the game was refereed horribly. So I'm not sure what happened there. Maybe they wanted to get it to an overtime. I'm not sure if they have meetings about that or what. But we stood in there. They're good guys. But in that third period, it was disgusting."

He added: “I'm not sure if NBC got together with the refs.”

The Rangers won the game 3-2, but the most controversial call was when the Rangers’ opponent, the Philadelphia Flyers, were given a penalty shot with 19.6 seconds left because the officials claimed that Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh covered the puck illegally in the Rangers’ crease.

Flyers winger Danny Briere took the shot, but he was stopped by Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, preserving the Rangers’ win.