Tippett: Kings get `breaks on calls’

With a straight face, Phoenix coach Dave Tippett essentially accused the Kings of embellishing penalties and benefitting from calls. In Game 3 tonight, the Coyotes were called for six penalties and the Kings were called for two penalties, but presumably Tippett hasn’t seen recent video of Mike Smith and Martin Hanzal…

TIPPETT: “They’re getting some breaks on calls, I think, and eventually that wore us down.’’

Question: What did you think of the officiating?

TIPPETT: “If I told you what I really thought, I think it would cost me a lot of money. Personally, the whole — and I’ve talked about this in a lot of meetings with Don (Maloney), our general manger — the game is turning a little dishonest, and it’s embellishment by players. Because they know. When it’s done well, it’s very hard for the referees, very hard. Because if you fall down near the boards or you drop your stick or you throw your head back, you’re putting the referee in a very tough situation. Not just our game tonight. You see it all the way through. The referees have a hard job, and it makes the game dishonest. In actual fact, to make it work in your favor, you have to do it more. You have to do it. If everybody else is going to do it, you have to do it too. We saw more than one penalty out there, for us and against us, that were called that I thought were plays that was embellishment. So it’s too bad that it has to go that way. It’s too bad that you get to this point in the season, that that gets to be a factor, but that’s reality in our game right now.’’

Darryl Sutter was asked about Tippett’s accusations.

SUTTER: “Embellishing? I didn’t see that. We didn’t complain last game. And I don’t think Dave is complaining either. There wasn’t that many power plays, so obviously we were doing something right.’’