A weird moment early in the second period of Washington’s 2-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes. Brooks Laich had apparently put his team on top 1-0 after knocking home a goal at 3 minutes, 33 seconds. The crowd roared, the Caps began celebrating – and then the officials huddled near the scorer’s booth. That’s never a good sign.
After checking with replay officials in Toronto to make sure the goal indeed crossed the goal line – that was never in doubt – the two linesmen and referee Eric Furlatt overruled referee Kyle Rehman, who was behind the net and initially ruled the goal good. Instead, Laich endured his 10th consecutive game without a goal. He has now scored just once in his last 15 games.
“Kyle had it as a goal. And then we were told the other three guys said there was contact,” Laich said. “But I don’t know – Kyle was the closest guy to the net. I guess he’s overruled by the other three guys, but then if that’s the case then I don’t know why there’s a review of the goal. If you’re going to be overruled you shouldn’t have to check for anything else.”
Both referees refused comment to a pool reporter after the game. Still, no announcement was made to the crowd and that seems at odds with NHL Rule 78.5:
78.5 Disallowed Goals – Apparent goals shall be disallowed by the Referee and the appropriate announcement made by the Public Address Announcer for the following reasons:
(i) When the puck has been directed, batted or thrown into the net by an
attacking player other than with a stick.
(ii) When the puck has been kicked using a distinct kicking motion.
(iii) When the puck has deflected directly into the net off an official.
(iv) When a goal has been scored and an ineligible player is on the ice.
(v) When an attacking player has interfered with a goalkeeper in his goal
Not sure I get why you leave thousands of fans – and media, for that matter – in the dark, especially when a referee has the headset on and is clearly talking to the NHL’s situation room in Toronto. There are a bunch more addendums to that rule, but that suits our purposes here. In this case, Caps coach Dale Hunter said officials told him Laich had made “incidental contact” with Ward. We’ve seen a lot more contact than that let go, which is another reason players were confused afterwards. The whole thing also conjured unpleasant memories of Alex Ovechkin’s waived off goal 24 seconds into the third period of Game 7 against the Montreal Canadiens in the 2010 playoffs.
“I have no idea. That’s what really popped into my mind first of all. Something wasn’t making sense there,” said veteran winger Mike Knuble, who was the man called for interference on that Ovechkin goal two years ago. “I still don’t know what the verdict was. I had to go ask them at a commercial break what was happening. I just didn’t get like the flow. It just didn’t sound right – the way the system works. For it to be called a goal on the ice and then, I don’t know. They said they overruled it on the ice, but then Toronto’s calling. I don’t get it. It’s kind of a funny situation.”
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