Canadiens blast refs, who 'took over the game' in Oilers comeback

The Montreal Canadiens were not pleased with the officiating in their 6-5 loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night.

The Canadiens held a 5-3 lead, but the Oilers scored three goals - including two on the power play - in the final nine minutes of regulation.

"Refs kind of took over the game there and kudos to them for winning it," forward Cole Caufield said postgame, according to Sportsnet's Eric Engels.

The Canadiens were handed five minor penalties in the game, including three in the third period. The Oilers were only given one.

"I'm going to be honest with you, started with (Juraj Slafkovsky's) penalty," Habs veteran Brendan Gallagher said. "Talked to (the official) after that one, they admitted it wasn't a penalty, made a mistake."

The Oilers didn't capitalize on Slafkovsky's penalty, but Leon Draisaitl brought the game within one after Mike Matheson was called for tripping Connor McDavid later in the period. Josh Anderson was then called for unsportsmanlike conduct for firing the puck down the ice following Draisaitl's goal.

That led to Ryan Nugent Hopkins' power-play equalizer.

"It's an emotional game, temperatures are hot," Gallagher continued. "Understand that, control the game. Understand you made a mistake, we're shorthanded again, give a guy a second, no need to call that.

"I thought our guys played a really good game. We were checking their top players, we were doing what we needed to do, we responded really well. And yeah, could we have handled our emotions better? Of course. We'll talk about that. But situations in the game, you know, obviously they've got some high-end talent, they don't need the help."

Vasily Podkolzin notched the game-winner at even strength with 1:09 left in the game.

Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis also took a shot at the officials.

“We watch video and we try to get better as a group," he said. "I hope the league has the same process as coaches do."