There was indeed quite an interesting history between the head coach of the Montreal Canadiens, Martin St-Louis, and the official from last night’s game.

Francis Charron is a name that many Canadiens fans know, and it’s also a name that St-Louis knows well.

Despite a few questionable calls like the one on Lightning star forward Nikita Kucherov:

 

Let’s say the refereeing wasn’t too bad last night.

It was interesting to watch, particularly because of the little history between St-Louis and Francis Charron.

The first Montreal Canadiens game officiated by Francis Charron since Martin St-Louis’ emotional outburst

Back when things were much worse for the Montreal Canadiens, we witnessed a memorable moment during a press conference where Martin St-Louis lost his cool and called out the referees:

 

Angry at the officials, Martin literally repeated I won’t talk about the referees five times, in a tone that said a lot.

It sparked quite a bit of talk around the NHL:

 

And as you might have guessed, last night was the first Montreal Canadiens game officiated by Francis Charron since that memorable outburst by Martin St-Louis.

Story to follow. This is referee Francis Charron’s first game officiating the Canadiens since when, do you think?

Yes, that infamous afternoon of November 30 at Madison Square Garden, which sparked the ire of Martin St-Louis.

‘I will not talk about the referees’ work.’

 

It went relatively well, especially since the Canadiens came away with two big points against the Tampa Bay Lightning, but it was certainly an interesting story to follow.

And what did you think of the refereeing last night at the Bell Centre?