Insider calls out the NHL over goalie interference call against the Leafs
Over the weekend, we saw a controversial call come down from the war room in Toronto, taking a Maple Leafs goal off the board in Winnipeg due to what was deemed goaltender interference. I am, of course, referring to Tyler Bertuzzi's 1st period tally, which was ruled no goal despite the fact that William Nylander was clearly shoved into Connor Hellebuyck. In case you missed it, here's the replay:
For those who didn't watch the game, Sheldon Keefe challenged the play using a coaches challenge so that the referees could review the play to see that Nylander had been shoved in and made a reasonable effort to get out of the way, which he did. Ultimately, however, the league ruled that the call on the ice would stand, leading to much frustration and criticism over how the league handles these types of calls.
In the end, it didn't matter much for the Leafs, who skated away with the 4-2 victory in Winnipeg, but fans and media alike remain confused by the call, as it was pretty clear cut that Nylander was shoved in and didn't even really factor in on the Bertuzzi shot at all.
On Monday's edition of 32 Thoughts, Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek discussed the issue at length, with Friedman proposing something that he'd like to see the league do for full transparency's sake. Friedman wants the league to create a video, outlining step-by-step why the call was made, because he and many others believe that the goal should have counted.
What I also will have no doubt is that if they haven't done it already, they'll send that goal to a bunch of GMs and said 'what do you guys think?'... Maybe what they do is they wait until all the results come back from this informal straw poll they're taking, but I absolutely think they should put out a video and say, 'this is why we didn't count this goal', because watching it with one eye, I was kind of like, 'Eh, maybe Nylander didn't get out of the way', but then when I really looked at it, I was like 'no, no, no, no, that's a goal'.
I also believe there should be a very high standard of taking goals off the board. We want goals in this league and we should try to make them count." - Friedman on the disallowed Tyler Bertuzzi goal
Goalie interference negating a goal is always something that is clouded by controversy. Unless someone does something that very blatantly impacts the goaltender's ability to make a save, goals should count. I totally agree with Friedman there. However, with the rules surrounding this the way they are now, it creates far too much room for error and leaves the situation open to too much fan frustration. This is a sport, but it's also entertainment. What's more entertaining than more goals?
| POLL | ||
JANVIER 29 | 901 ANSWERS Insider calls out the NHL over goalie interference call against the Leafs Should the NHL release a video explaining why they ruled Tyler Bertuzzi's goal as no goal? | ||
| Yes | 810 | 89.9 % |
| No, it's done, the Leafs won. Who cares? | 91 | 10.1 % |
| List of polls | ||
