Chris Lee and the Canadiens: a major revelation proves that the referee is hurting the Habs

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Jeff Drouin
November 2, 2022 (10:41)

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We can say that last night, the refereeing was not in favor of the Montreal Canadiens, and there were several very questionable calls (and missed calls).

We didn't make too much of it until now, but a new information emerged.

Check it out:

"Two years ago, a Habs fan collected data on nearly 25,000 games between 1999 and 2020 and hypothesized that the Canadiens see a 13 percent increase in penalties when Chris Lee referees Canadiens games... (source at bottom)

All other teams have had about the same number of penalty minutes per game in games officiated by Chris Lee since 1999, with the exception of the Canadiens who get a 13% penalty increase (major), with a win percentage. of -8%, and the Flyers who get a +3% win pct

Far be it from us to complain about the Habs, it seems like every team has their pet peeve with the officials and for the CH, it's definitely Chris Lee." - HabsOnReddit

Wow! We had noticed that the infamous Chris Lee seems to be mixed up, when he referees Habs games, but now there are numbers to prove it.

Over a period of more than 20 years, the CH has 13% more penalties when Lee is on duty. That's a big number.

In addition, the Habs win 8% less games with Chris Lee than with other referees. Well, it could be a pure coincidence but it's still very interesting.

Examples from last night.

Jon Merrill hitting a CH player with a cross-check right in front of the referee's eyes:

A charge on Brendan Gallagher went unpunished:

And finally, there's this:

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