Carolina Hurricanes Lose Double Overtime Thriller to The Boston Bruins

The Ugly

The Carolina Hurricanes would love for these things to just stop happening.

The officiating. Yes, we are going to talk about it now. Because as bad as the Carolina Hurricanes were defensively in this game, the officiating was way, way worse.

Look every game has some missed calls. Every game has some calls that with some further review should have been overturned. Two minutes in the box doesn’t change much over the longer course of things. So for the most part, complaining about the officiating doesn’t seem like something to waste your breath with.

Today was a different story. In the second period, the Bruins launch a rebound up in the air and try to knock it down with their hand. Petr Mrazek games down with the glove to secure the puck, coming out of his net to do so. However, the puck is then passed from under his glove by another Bruin to Charlie Coyle who launches it into an empty net with Mrazek on the ice.

Mrazek jumps up and demands the goal be overturned because he had the puck under his glove. Rod Brind’amour challenges for a Missed Game Stoppage.

What gets lost in the conversation is that somehow the challenge is made that the missed call was a hand-pass and not the fact that Mrazek had the puck and it was forced away, because that would be goaltender interference apparently. Here is how the goal came out to be.

So we are tracking, they upheld the call on the, which was no whistle to stop the game for a handpass because Petr Mrazek had control of the puck with his glove. Not his stick, his glove. So Charlie Coyle’s goal becomes unassisted. But how did Coyle get the puck? The officials who looked at the footage several times have no clue. Must have been magic.

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Reality is that that goal should have been overturned for goalie interference. Mrazek had the puck and was impeded from doing his job when a stick game under his glove and swiped it away from him. That was obvious in the replay footage and the rules should be flexible enough for the officiating to say that while the challenge was unsuccessful, the goal is overturned on new evidence.

Instead, we have this charade of officiating that decided to hold it to just what Rod had challenged even though a failed challenge here is another violation there. This should have been no-goal and the Bruins should have been penalized for goaltender interference. Carolina should have been awarded a powerplay instead of going on the kill.

Would it have changed the outcome of the game? Perhaps. Maybe not. But that isn’t the point. The point is for the officiating to be consistent and control the game. Otherwise, this is a circus and the refs are simply the clowns there for entertainment instead of keeping order. Rod Brind’amour had this to say about the results when asked by the News and Observer:

"“This is why the league’s a joke, in my opinion, on these things. That one is a crime scene.” “They came to me, and I said, ‘If he has possession of it then it’s goalie interference. If he doesn’t have possession then it’s a hand pass. It’s one of the two. I don’t know what you’re calling on the ice.” “All he has to do is tell me. ‘We’re calling it nonpossession (by Mrazek),’ then we’re challenging a glove-hand pass. If it’s possession, then goaltender interference. I said, ‘Tell me the call on the ice.’ They wouldn’t do it when I say, ‘What is the call?’ So I had to flip a coin.” “I said, ‘What was the call on the ice?’ and he said, ‘You’ve got to call one or the other.’ It should be so easy. If they said the goalie had it, then it’s an easy call. They wouldn’t tell you. It makes no sense. I know we weren’t the better team, but if that goal doesn’t go in, do we win that game? I don’t know.”"

These are strong words by Rod who joins John Tortorella as coaches who have called out bad officiating this season. Torts got fined by the league, and one might expect the same to happen to Rod. Regardless of the outcome, we all feel his anger.

Question for CC Readers: Did the officiating make the right call?