Tampa Bay Lightning fans accusing refs of rigging the game for the Montreal Canadiens

Last night the Tampa Bay Lightning versus Montreal Canadiens game was mired by a controversial goal. Ultimately the Tampa Bay Lighting managed to win the game despite the controversial goal against. 11 minutes into the 1st period the Lightning tossed a harmless shot on goal, instead of pressuring the goalie, the Lightning skated off the ice.

As the play seems to come to an end the referee instead decides to not blow the play dead. The lack of whistle was lost on everyone as the arena employee started playing both the internal music and setting off the in game music. The Lightning took this as a sign and left the ice.

While the Lightning left the ice, Canadiens defender Johnathan Kovacevic realized the whistle hadn't gone and took the opportunity to fire the puck down the ice into an empty net.

Now it appears that some fans don't fully understand what occured last night, with some fans even accusing the NHL of rigging the game in the Canadiens favor.

While some fans felt this was video proof of the referee assisting the Canadiens it was actually just a normal hand signal given by officials when play is set to resume.

It's very clear that if the officials were trying to rig the game that they did a terrible job, especially given the fact that the Canadiens lost.