With one of the worst third periods in recent memory, the Montreal Canadiens managed to erase any chance they had of beating the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday. They went into the frame down just a goal, and ended up leaving it with a 6-1 laugher in favour of the visitors. I say this so that there will be no confusion; nothing you are about to read is intended to blame the officials for the Habs losing that game.
That said, we once again need to talk about goaltender interference, and if anyone even knows what that actually is.
Michael Pezzetta makes some minor contact with Devon Levi, of that there is no doubt. But with established precedent that a goaltender having time to reset can negate the contact, this one should be debatable. The officials reviewed after a challenge from the Sabres, and called the goal back due to interference.
I could understand this call, if and only if this same play were consistently ruled no goal. It isn’t, and in fact you can find plenty of examples where more severe contact is allowed. I’ll provide just one from earlier this season, from a game not involving the Habs at all.
There is far more contact here than Pezzetta made with Levi, in the crease, and clearly preventing the goaltender from attempting anything remotely resembling a save. This was challenged, and upheld as a goal. If that contact was permissible, how can it possibly be justified that Pezzetta’s contact wasn’t?
I could go through the last three years of calls and find even more examples that would serve only to further obfuscate the definition of “goaltender interference.” Nobody knows what it is, least of all the officials or the league itself. The sheer lack of consistency makes it impossible to predict, and challenging some of these plays as a coach is essentially akin to gambling on a coin flip. Oh, and you’re penalized if you pick tails and it comes up heads. Sorry, these are the rules.
Which makes it all the more maddening. They have clear cut rules about what can and can’t be challenged, what happens when you fail on a challenge, but one of the most commonly challenged events is so vaguely defined that a baseline on which to decide whether or not to challenge can’t be established. The exact play from Montreal’s game could repeat itself in another game later today and be ruled a good goal, and it would surprise precisely nobody.
If Pezzetta’s contact is the bar, fine. Allowing that goal wouldn’t have helped the Habs in that game anyways. A modicum of consistency would go a long way to fans not having to watch challenges and wonder if they might actually be flipping a coin in the situation room.
This is one of the biggest problems in NHL officiating right now, and there is no sign of it getting better. If anything, it’s getting worse.
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