Blues fans can’t say they weren’t warned.
While St. Louis knocked around the Islanders on Thursday night, 4-0, thanks to three goals in a 32-second span in the second period, referee Garrett Rank stole a bit of the spotlight and drew the ire of the Enterprise Center crowd.
With 9:32 left in the game and the Blues up by four, it looked as though they were about to make it a five-goal cushion after Alexey Toropchenko deflected the puck past Isles netminder Semyon Varlamov.
Nevertheless, it was quickly waved off as the officials deemed that Toropchenko hit the puck with a high stick.
After the officials looked at the potential goal again on video, they determined that it was indeed not a good goal, which is when Rank took center stage and had a little fun with the crowd.
“You’re not gonna like it but the call on the ice was correct, no goal,” Rank said as the boos started to rain down.
The call on the ice amused the Blue broadcast team on Bally Sports.
“That’s some good description there from Garrett Rank,” play-by-play man John Kelly said.
Thursday night was not the first time that Rank has used that level of candor while announcing a call to the crowd.
Earlier this season, he had fans laughing as he tried to make heads and tails of a brawl during a game between the Panthers and Senators.
“Every player on the ice has a 10-minute misconduct,” Rank announced during that November game.
Rank also has a rather unique story, working as an NHL referee during the season and having an intense amateur golf schedule during the summer months he’s not officiating.
