New York Rangers left winger Alexis Lafreniere was given a 10-minute misconduct penalty for apparently making an inappropriate comment to an official during Monday night's NHL game against Tampa Bay.
It happened at the 17:27 mark of the first period with the Lightning leading 3-0. Lafreniere was chasing the puck towards the Lightning end of the ice after it was cleared from the Rangers end, but it crossed the goal line and a linesman blew the whistle for icing. As he turned around to head back to his own end, he skated past referee Chris Rooney, who was standing along the boards. Lafreniere turned and said something to Rooney as he skated by. Whatever was said, Rooney surely didn't like it, as he blew his whistle and called the misconduct penalty. With only 2:33 remaining in the period, Lafraniere headed straight to the locker room.
Alexis Lafreniere receives a 10 minute misconduct after saying something to an official 😬 pic.twitter.com/skFfL12Fzw
— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) April 7, 2025
We have seen plenty of players penalized for arguing with officials, but it usually involves yelling, screaming and/or getting in the referee's face. In this case, Lafreniere did none of these things and did not seem overly angry, so we would be really curious to know what Lafreniere said that was so egregious that justified him being slapped with misconduct. Was it really that bad, or is Rooney a bit too sensitive?
It was a frustrating night for the Rangers, who lost to the Lightning 5-1 and are falling further out of contention for an Eastern Conference playoff spot.
Moonlighting as a blogger to pursue my interest and enjoyment of sports. Former high school and Division I athlete (now a "retired" family man) that loves watching and discussing all sports. Follow me on Twitter (@HoldoutSports) and like Holdout Sports on Facebook.
