NHL officiating during playoffs has changed over the years

After the referees threw out 10 players near the end of Game 2 of the Rangers-Devils first-round playoff series Thursday in Newark, Rangers forward Patrick Kane, a veteran of 138 playoff games, spoke Saturday about how playoff officiating has changed over the years.

“We were talking about that the other day, how there’s probably more penalties called in the playoffs, or at least to start, than the regular season,’’ Kane said before Game 3 on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. “That’s not how it used to be. It’s a little bit different now. I think, especially early in the playoffs, it seems like they’re trying to like set a standard . . .

“We saw the other night [in Game 2], I think [Adam] Fox might have grabbed someone, and it was pretty harmless. But they get in the extra two and then all of a sudden, you’re four-on-four. So they’re definitely trying to crack down on that stuff, especially after the whistle.’’

The Fox penalty came while the Rangers were on a power play late in the first period. Fox grabbed hold of his former college teammate at Harvard, John Marino, after Marino had gone after Mika Zibanejad in front of the net.

Later in the game, a spirited fight broke out between the Rangers’ Braden Schneider and the Devils’ Michael McLeod. Eight players were given 10-minute misconduct penalties with 6:40 to play. Then, eight seconds later, Fox and the Devils’ Timo Meier were given matching misconduct penalties.

“There were two guys fighting and everybody else got thrown out, too,’’ Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said. “I’m sure the NHL got tired of the scrums going on late in hockey games when the game’s pretty well decided . . .

“For me, there wasn’t a lot going on. It was a hell of a fight going on in the corner. And then there might have been one cross-check, but then everybody got thrown out.’’

So many players were thrown out of the game, in fact, that Rangers forward Vincent Trocheck had to take a shift on defense because the Rangers had only three defensemen available.

“That’s me, jack of all trades,’’ Trocheck said.

Forward Kaapo Kakko also said he was getting ready to play defense if called upon.

Blue notes

The Rangers made no changes to their lineup but the Devils made a change in net for Game 3. Akira Schmid started in place of Vitek Vanecek.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.