The Washington Capitals got a bit of a favor from the referees in their 5-2 win over the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night. The team had six players on the ice for its fourth goal of the night, which should’ve been a penalty, yet somehow it still counted after none of the officials noticed.
Okay we get it, the @Capitals love tic-tac-toe. They're on cruise control tonight. #NJDvsWSH pic.twitter.com/e7i2VWujY2
— NHL (@NHL) December 31, 2017
Computer, enhance, please:
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That’s clearly a “too many men on the ice” penalty by the Capitals, yet the referees didn’t catch it before the team scored. And because of NHL rules, this mistake by the officials was not reviewable. So while just about anyone seeing that replay at home could recognize this goal shouldn’t have counted, there was nothing to be done.
Understandably, Devils coach John Hynes was not happy about it after the game.
Devils coach John Hynes clearly - and, visual evidence backing him up - rightfully annoyed with Caps having six on the ice for their fourth goal. Hynes said there were six out there the whole sequence. https://t.co/jKypfINpJI
— Andrew Gross (@AGrossRecord) December 31, 2017
The NHL’s officials simply screwed up, and there was no system in place to handle that kind of mistake. Having too many men on the ice is something the referees need to whistle, but when they don’t notice it, there should be a way for the league to address that. This is the same league that allows goals to be overturned based on offside reviews that show a skate was an inch off the ice, yet it didn’t have a way to fix an egregious error that led to a goal Saturday.
The Devils were down two goals anyway at that point, so there’s a good chance they would’ve lost anyway. But any chance of a comeback pretty much went out the window with a goal that never should’ve counted.