Eric Bolte-Imagn Images
NHL fans love to blame the refs for having a vendetta against their team when calls don’t go their way. You’re normally veering into conspiracy theory territory when you claim a game is rigged, but it was hard to blame the Canadiens fans who cried foul after Lane Hutson fell victim to a tripping call that was atrocious to the point where the referee who called it went out of his way to apologize.
It’s hard to envy the NHL referees who sign up for a largely thankless and incredibly high-pressure job; one where they’re rarely praised for doing what’s expected of them but will quickly get dragged over the coals if they’re responsible for a questionable call that puts a team at a disadvantage.
Hockey refs have their hands full when it comes to officiating an incredibly high-paced game where many players are not shy about embellishing in an attempt to draw a penalty, and as things currently stand, NHL teams don’t have much recourse when it comes to challenging a call that results in a player being sent to the sin bin even if a replay shows they obviously weren’t guilty of the infraction they were hit with.
That was clearly the case with one call that sent Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson to the penalty box on Tuesday night, which was egregious enough to lead to the zebra who issued it offering a mea culpa.
Lane Hutson got an apology from Eric Furlatt after being sent to the penalty box over a phantom trip on Marcus Foligno
The Canadiens had a 2-1 lead over the Wild in the closing minutes of the second period on Tuesday night and got an opportunity to extend it after an interference call on Minnesota’s Ryan Hartman put them on the power play.
Unfortunately, the one-man advantage lasted for less than 30 seconds, as Montreal had a breakout into the offensive zone blown dead after Lane Hutson was sent to the penalty box for supposedly tripping up Mark Foligno near the blue line.
However, there was one small problem: Hutson never came close to making any sort of contact with Foligno and was clearly skating a few feet away from him when he simply lost his footing and tumbled down onto the ice on his own accord.
Lane Hutson got a tripping penalty for this… pic.twitter.com/E7ZbrR3IIt
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) January 21, 2026
The Canadiens were powerless to challenge what is easily one of the worst (if not the worst) penalty calls I’ve ever seen in an NHL game, which came courtesy of head referee Eric Furlatt. The official who was actually tripping got the chance to take a look at the play in between periods, and to his credit, he approached Hutson after the intermission to admit he screwed up.
Ref Eric Furlatt apologizes to Lane Hutson for the tripping penalty called on him. pic.twitter.com/PJp6jmDeDk
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) January 21, 2026
Neither team scored during the four-on-four, and the Wild were unable to take advantage of the 25-second power play they got after Hartman emerged from the box. Montreal went on to earn a 4-3 victory, as Cole Caulfield netted the game-winning goal with 15 seconds left in the third.