Former Russian national team head coach Vladimir Plyushchev shared his thoughts on the officiating in the KHL semifinal series between Lokomotiv and Avangard, which ended 4-3. He expressed dissatisfaction with the league’s approach to handling refereeing controversies, noting that two major missed calls in the middle of the series significantly impacted its outcome.
Plyushchev pointed to Richard Panik’s skate kick on Nail Yakupov, calling it one of the most blatant and dangerous plays in hockey, which could have left Yakupov injured. According to IIHF rules, such an incident should have resulted in a 5-minute major plus a game misconduct, followed by a suspension. He also highlighted an unpunished elbow to the head by the same player, Panik, which earlier in the series against Ufa and Yaroslavl would have drawn a major penalty.
The former coach suggested that officials, among the best in the KHL, might have intentionally overlooked these infractions to extend the series artificially. He argued that the double error—both by the referees and the league—broke Avangard’s spirit, and the officials themselves were not held accountable for their mistakes.
