BOSTON – A Bruins offense starved for goals had another one called back in a one-goal loss where they really could have used some more offense.
It was a play in the second period Friday night of the 2-1 loss to the Calgary Flames before the Bruins had cracked the scoreboard. They already trailed 1-0 after a half-speed effort in the first period. So, when a puck was fired deep into the Calgary end and Chad Johnson opted to play it, a twist of hockey fate seemed like it was going to go Boston’s way.
Brad Marchand collided into Calgary defenseman Mark Giordano as the Flames D-man slowed down to provide some subtle interference for the B’s attacker and Giordano slid into Johnson after he’d played the puck well outside his crease. The chain of events slowed Johnson in getting back into his net and Patrice Bergeron fired the puck into the vacated net for an apparent tying goal that was called a good goal by officials on the ice.
It was challenged as goalie interference by the Calgary coaching staff and ultimate overturned by the referee with this reasoning: The referee determined that Marchand initiated contact with Calgary's Mark Giordano and propelled him into Johnson before the puck crossed the goal line.
According to Rule 78.7, “the standard for overturning the call in the event of a ‘GOAL’ call on the ice is that the Referee, after reviewing any and all available replays and consulting with the Toronto Video Room, determines that the goal should have been disallowed due to ‘Interference on the Goalkeeper,’ as described in Rules 69.1 and 69.4.”
Needless to say, the Bruins didn’t agree with the decision, and truth be told this is one of those “gray area” plays where it’s awfully difficult to make the call that Marchand “propelled” Giordano into Johnson. It’s one thing if Marchand himself made contact with the goaltender, and impeded him from potentially making a save on Bergeron’s shot. But Johnson was way outside of the crease area playing the puc, and wasn’t technically interfered with by a Bruins player at all as he tried to make a mad scramble back to the crease.
It’s also difficult to continually see potentially good goals taken off the board in a league that’s constantly looking for ways to boost offense and create more goal-scoring rather than less in nearly every instance.
Boston Bruins
Claude Julien was hot about the call after the goal was taken off the scoreboard and still steaming after the loss.
“You obviously saw that I wasn’t happy with it. When you dump the puck and you forecheck and all night long they kept skating in front of our fore-check, and that’s exactly what they did to Marchy [Brad Marchand], and Marchy gives them a shove – which he’s allowed to do,” said Julien. “Just because your goaltender is out of the net and he happens to be in the way, I don’t think that should have been called back.
“We never know anymore what they think so we just have to sit back and accept what they decide. So, it’s a frustrating thing because it’s never the same thing twice.”
Would the referee have decided to overturn the goal if it was anybody aside from the perpetually misbehaving Marchand involved in the play?
It’s a fair question that the Bruins will never know the answer to, but it doesn’t matter because the B’s didn’t get the Bergeron goal to count in a game where they really needed a little bit more offense in a one-goal regulation loss.