What in the world are the officials doing here?

Adam McQuaid is probably one frustrated dude right now.

He had a fight canceled by the linesman in the Bruins’ 4-3 loss on Tuesday night. In that dust-up, he was hit after the whistle, responded and wasn’t allowed to fight.

Tonight, McQuaid came calling for William Carrier after Carrier hit David Backes high, late and in the head.

Carrier appeared ready. McQuaid was ready. The officials were not.

Absolute garbage.

You can argue all you want about whether or not fighting belongs in the NHL. But if there’s not going to be a fight, then...don’t let there be a fight!

You can see in the video above that one linesman has a hold of McQuaid’s right hand while Carrier continues to punch McQuaid in the face.

Just terrible, terrible work by the officials.

Making matters worse, McQuaid was given 2-5-10 for instigating the fight, and the Sabres scored on the power play.

This is fine.

EDIT: Here’s a slow-mo look at one of the shots to the face McQuaid took. Note that Greg Devorski has McQuaid’s right arm firmly locked down (you can see it at the end) while Carrier is free to keep swinging.