The officiating in the Bruins-Panthers series has been a hot topic over the last two games between Sam Bennett not receiving any discipline for his hit on Brad Marchand, and letting a goal stand after Bennett shoved Charlie Coyle into Jeremy Swayman – preventing Boston’s goalie from making a save.

Boston Coach Jim Montgomery told reporters after the Game 4 loss that it wasn’t his “place to comment,” and General Manager Don Sweeney took a similar approach – choosing his words carefully Monday afternoon.

“We’re not in a position to be criticizing the officials and league-wide such,” Sweeney said. “That’s standard protocol. We’ll get fined as a result of that, so there’s no intention on my point to be critical.

“… Those questions should be directed at either the directors, director of supervising, supervisor of officials, and/or the officials,” he added. “You want full access or transparency? Then put the officials in front of a microphone to answer the questions. They’re the only ones that have the experience to be able to handle whatever interpretation to Rule 69. … The people that make that decision should be answering the question how to interpret it.”

Pat Maroon was surprised the call wasn’t overturned because something similar happened to him this season while he was with the Minnesota Wild.

“I do the same exact thing and they disallowed the goal,” Maroon said. “We’re not gonna sit here and point fingers, we’re not gonna sit here and blame the refs. It’s unfortunate that someone gets cross-checked. … But, like I said, we put ourselves in that situation where we got to do a better job of playing better.”

When it comes to Bennett’s hit on Marchand – which will likely keep the captain out of Game 5 after he missed Game 4 – Sweeney said while the Bruins have seen every angle of the hit, it’s still up to the NHL department of player safety to make the call they deem appropriate.

“The department of player safety needs to make a statement on how they interpret that situation,” he said. “We’ve seen every angle you can possibly imagine. No different than when Brad himself has been called to the carpet and comparables are looked at. That’s their job, their responsibility to protect the players. We have to respect that, whatever their judgment is.”

The Bruins play Game 5 on the brink of elimination Tuesday night.

THE BRUINS ADDED some reinforcements as they get set to head on what they hope isn’t their last road trip of the season.

Before leaving for Florida where they’ll play Game 5 on Tuesday night at Amerant Bank Arena, the Bruins called up Patrick Brown, Jayson Megna and Brandon Bussi.

Bussi replaces Michael DiPietro as Boston’s emergency goalie. Bussi, who is considered the better prospect, initially stayed in Providence for the AHL playoffs. The Bruins’ top farm team was eliminated by Hartford this weekend.

Brown returns to Boston after centering the fourth line in Game 1, the Bruins’ only win of this series. He played in 11 games with the Bruins during the regular season and had one assist. The 31-year-old has 149 games of NHL experience with 10 goals and 15 assists. He had 11 goals and 21 assists this season for Providence.

Megna, is back with the Bruins after one regular-season game in the NHL this year. He had 19 goals and 37 assists in Providence this season. The 34-year-old journeyman has played 204 career games in the NHL with Boston, Anaheim, Colorado, Vancouver, N.Y. Rangers and Pittsburgh with 12 goals and 21 assists. The trip will be a homecoming for the Fort Lauderdale native.