There doesn’t seem to be a day that goes by now that goaltender interference doesn’t dominate the conversation in the NHL. After the Edmonton Oilers were ruled out of an overtime winner for no real reason a few weeks ago, it became clear the NHL has no idea what it is doing in terms of calling this rule.
On Saturday, we got another taste of the goaltender interference controversy. In the final moments of a tied 2-2 game, the Florida Panthers pulled ahead of the Detroit Red Wings with a clutch goal from Jonathan Huberdeau. With the game going down to the wire because of the late goal, the officials took a look at the play for goaltender interference.
After the review, the call stood as a goal on the ice, which left Red Wings’ goaltender Petr Mrazek enraged and Detroit head coach Jeff Blashill ejected for the final few seconds of the game.
Jeff Blashill (ejected) and Petr Mrazek absolutely furious after late Jonathan Huberdeau goal allowed to stand following goalie interference review pic.twitter.com/JzYBhi0k13
— Brady Trettenero (@BradyTrett) February 4, 2018
Here’s the goal at full speed, for those looking for an alternate angle.
Huberdeau does bump into Mrazek, putting the netminder out of position as he falls backwards in a moment that allows the Panthers forward to stuff in the game-winning goal. However, Mike Green’s presence near Huberdeau does cast doubt as to whether the Panthers forward crashed into Mrazek on his own, or if he was pushed in.
That question likely weighed on the minds of the officials making the decision, and it’s probably the reason the call stood. If the original call on the ice was no-goal, that decision likely would have stood as well.
However, the Red Wings were incensed at the call and Blashill got the boot from the officials for his arguments. Mrazek himself was also seen yelling at the referees from the bench, as the team stayed on the ice after the final whistle to argue their cases.
The game is over but the Red Wings took a long time going to their dressing room. Petr Mrazek was screaming for a long time for the non-call. pic.twitter.com/GvNIhf3lx8
— Brad Galli (@BradGalli) February 4, 2018
We’ve said it before, but the longer the NHL goes without clarifying or tweaking these rules, the more we will see controversial decisions like this one.
The NHL did come out after the game and clarified the ruling on the ice in Florida, as they stated they saw that “no goaltender interference infractions occurred before the puck crossed the goal line.”
For players, however, it seems that enough is enough with the gray areas of this rule that has caused inconsistencies.
What Henrik Zetterberg had to say: "The inconsistency in this league right now, if it's the refs or it's the guys in Toronto or if it's the suspensions or if it's the fines, it's hard for us as players to know what rules we are playing under."
— Helene St. James (@HeleneStJames) February 4, 2018