I think this is true. There are pros and cons to this, of course. I've always been for refs putting the whistles away come playoff time, but then again, there are others who think it should be consistent throughout the entire year. It seems like Peel wanted to call a penalty on Nash early either because A) he missed an important penalty on them last game B) he called a weak one in Nash's favor last game that he realized shouldn't have been called after the game or C) he wanted to swallow the whistle for the rest of the game for penalties that weren't flagrant.
Either way, he needed to be fired in my view. I think this happens way more often than not and is nothing new, but since he was caught red-handed, it was a no-brainer. It was even easier to just let him go considering Peel was scheduled to retire at the end of the year anyway.
This reminds me of that one ref years ago who told Burrows in the pre-game skate that he was going to call a penalty on him because Burrows dove the game before and made him look bad (the ref called a penalty on the play). Forgot the ref's name now.