That’s the suggestion of some Flyers fans in chat rooms, message boards and blogs, as well as in comments on some of my Foxsports.com articles.

NHL officiating always gets knocked more in the post-season than it does in the regular season (when there’s always a steady drumbeat of discontent over it).

I haven’t found the officiating to be any better or worse in this year’s playoffs. It seems about the same, some games it’s good, some games it’s questionable.

As for the Flyers, it seems to be part of their cultivation of their underdog status, their “us against the world” mentality in this year’s post-season to suggest they’re not getting the benefit of the calls or for some of their fans to outright make that claim.

So, is there any truth to it?

Granted, the Flyers are bound to be watched more closely than other teams given the notable suspensions handed down to a couple of their players during the season, which at one point earned them a stiff public rebuke by the NHL ‘s disciplinary arm.

In the Flyers-Washington Capitals series, both teams drew 35 penalties, the most notable being Washington’s Tom Poti’s tripping call that led to Joffrey Lupul’s overtime series-winning goal in Game Seven.

In the Flyers-Montreal Canadiens series, the Flyers had 22 penalties to the Canadiens 14, 8 of those coming in the very rough third game when Derian Hatcher took a stupid boarding call that saw him tossed from the game and put his team shorthanded for half of the third period. In the other four games, two saw the teams draw equal number of penalties , one saw the Flyers draw one more and the other two more than the Habs.

A questionable call on Mike Richards for tripping Alex Kovalev late in Game One resulted in Kovalev’s game-tying goal, but the Canadiens Steve Begin took a silly interference late in the third of Game Four that snuffed out his club’s rally and resulted in the game winning PP goal by Daniel Briere.

After three games against the Penguins in the Conference Finals, the Flyers were assessed 11 penalties, the Penguins 10, with six of those 11 penalties coming in Game Two.

Flyers fans were justifiably upset over Scottie Upshall’s tripping call when a similar one later in the game by a Penguin was not called, and Evgeni Malkin’s blatant elbow to the head of Daniel Briere in Game Two going uncalled.

Overlooked however was Jason Smith’s punch to the face of Sidney Crosby in Game Two that went uncalled, as did a couple of other questionable tactics on Crosby and Malkin that the officials missed.

In the final assessment thus far, except for three games (one in each series) where undisciplined play got the better of them, the Flyers haven’t been getting the worst of the calls. It's was dead even against the Capitals, only one game skewed their numbers against the Habs (a game the Flyers won anyway), and it's been almost even against the Penguins in the first three games.

As far as calls go, some have certainly been missed for the Flyers, but so too have they gotten their share of breaks against their opponents.

The only thing beating the Flyers in their series against the Penguins is the talent depth of the Penguins, the absence of Kimmo Timonen and Braydon Coburn from the Flyers blueline and the inability of the rest of the Flyers defense to contain the Penguins speed. Penalties have nothing to do with it.

**Update** In Game Four, the Flyers were only called for two penalties, the Penguins called for four, leading a clearly upset Penguins coach Michel Therrien to sarcastically compliment the Flyers on their "disciplined play".  The Flyers tally of penalties now stands at 13, the Penguins at 14.

Some of the Carolina Hurricanes (hello there, Rod Brind'amour) and some Hurricanes fans were fuming about the referee allowing Ryan Smyth's go-ahead goal in Game Three which stood up as the winner.

If Mick McGeough hadn't gone upstairs for a goal review, I could certainly understand Brindy's fury on Saturday night.

The eye in the sky ruled the goal stood, and that should've been the end of it.

Besides, Brind'amour conveniently overlooked the fact the Oilers had a goal disallowed in the second period, when McGeough lost sight of the puck and whistled down the play, even though replays clearly showed the puck was still in play.

But McGeough was within his right to do so as the rule book clearly states the ref is to stop the play if he loses sight of the puck. If he had allowed the goal after whistling the play dead, that would've been something more worthy of Brind'amour's ire.

Game Three is over, folks, and the Oilers goal stands. Get over it.

There's no conspiracy theory here, no dark plan to "let the Oilers back in the series", no favoritism amongst the on-ice officials. Remember, McGeough was the referee for Game One, which I recall was won by the Hurricanes, and I don't recall a lot of whining about his officiating in that one by either team.

Oh, there was McGeough's call for a penalty shot after Niclas Wallin covered the puck with his hand within his crease that resulted in a Chris Pronger goal, but replays clearly showed McGeough not only made the correct call, but he was in perfect position to make it.

I realize that on-ice officials aren't infallible. They're going to miss calls sometimes and that's going to upset players, coaches and fans, or they'll make a questionable one from time to time.

But lemme tell ya, folks, I'm pleased with the overall quality of the officiating in this year's playoffs, especially compared to recent years.

In the bad old days, this is how the refs used to call the games: Call everything in the first period to let the players know who's boss, ease up on the calls in the second, call only the blatantly obvious in the third, and #### your whistle in overtime.

The end result was so much obstruction it looked like football on ice.

The officials are now calling the games more closely throughout, and the end result has been a game with more flow and energy, compared to the choppy, obstruction-laden snooze-fests of the past.

Yes, the number of penalties are higher, but I'd rather see an increase in powerplays than obstruction masquarading as defensive hockey sucking the life out of the game.

So let's stop the whining about the refs and enjoy the Finals, where ultimately the players, not the refs, will decide the outcome.