Well I'm going to claim they were consistent all the way through...
8 penalties called in regulation, all in the first 2 periods. 7 called in the first 23 minutes of the game ie. 1 period + 3 minutes. The 8th was a hook on Downie at 13:27 of the 2nd. The calls were 5 hooking, 1 highstick, 1 trip, 1 rough.
For fully half the game, not a single penalty was called, and there were plenty of infractions committed, including ones worse than the trip the OT penalty was called on. Sure the OT call was a penalty, my point was that the refs called the game in two different ways, and PPs accounted for 3 of the 5 goals. IMHO Washington was the better, harder skating team for the last half of the 2nd and the 3rd period. The Caps pressed the Flyers D hard, and they made plenty of bad plays that were corrected with obstruction and a hook, but not called in the 3rd period. If the refs called the game consistently throughout it's doubtful the game even goes to OT.
I understand your point that it was hard to ignore the penalty, it's the lack of consistency which is frustrating. Other sports are able to provide it but hockey has this bizarre notion that penalties in the first period aren't penalties in the third. The "new NHL" won't have arrived for me until they get that straightened out.
