[If Mario] Lemieux, [Ron] Burkle and the yet to be hired incoming GM believe that [Mark] Letestu and [Ben] Lovejoy were the missing pieces — when indeed Neal was MIA the entire Rangers’ series except for when he was hacking at Lundqvist after the whistle and indeed Crosby was Sidney Lite for all but Games 2 and 3 — then the east has little to fear from Pittsburgh.

And Brooks is particularly incensed about a referee's excuse for "missing" Brandon Prust's hit on Derek Stepan:

Kevin Pollock’s failure to call a penalty against Prust for his hit on Stepan should merit the referee’s expulsion for the remainder of the playoffs.

It is not that Pollock didn’t see it. He did. As The Post first reported, the official told Brad Richards immediately following the play, “It was a clean hit.”

There should be consequences for such gross ineptitude. But then, the NHL’s officiating department is overseen by Stephen Walkom, the former referee who missed — or thought “clean”— the Raffi Torres headshot that concussed Marian Hossa during the 2012 playoffs. That egregious error was rewarded first by an assignment to a Game 7 of a different series and then promotion to a league vice presidency.

Brooks continues...