Rangers-Devils Controversial Ending Justifies an Expansion of Goal Reviews @ The Fan Hub

February 8th, 2012 10:32 AM

New York Rangers right wing Marian Gaborik (10) receives a penalty in the last 3 seconds of play against the New Jersey Devils. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-US PRESSWIRE

The outcome of the game between the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils game on Tuesday night will be one that is much debated over the course of the next few days, or at least it should be. With less than ten seconds remaining and the New York Rangers trailing 1-0, Ryan Callahan threw a puck towards the net while Marian Gaborik simultaneously crashed into Martin Brodeur. This allowed Rangers Winger Artem Anisimov to stuff the puck into the net for what initially appeared to be a miraculous last second, game-tying goal. Madison Square Garden, however, was stunned when the officials ruled off the goal on the basis of goaltender interference by Gaborik.

Gaborik was pretty evidently in contact with Devils defenseman Anton Volchenkov, to what degree it was hard to tell, but the call was far too critical in deciding the outcome of the game to not look at it again. Looking at the replay, it’s fairly obvious that Gaborik at least attempted to stop before colliding with Brodeur; you could see the snow being scraped off the ice as he crashed the net.

The rule states, “If an attacking player has been pushed, shoved, or fouled by a defending player so as to cause him to come into contact with the goalkeeper, such contact will not be deemed contact initiated by the attacking player for purposes of this rule, provided the attacking player has made a reasonable effort to avoid such contact.” That being said, the goaltender is not allowed to be interfered with blatantly.

The rule itself is fine; incidental contact is allowed, however the outcome is not to be reviewed by the officials. The question worth asking is, why not? It’s a scoring play, the most important play in the game of hockey, why leave it to a decision made by a referee in real time? It’s fairly easy to see there was some degree of shoving by Volchenkov, enough to certainly warrant a second look if it were allowed.

The defense to this is that penalties shouldn’t be reviewed, they are calls made by the officials. However, a play like this is really not much different than reviewing a puck that is kicked, swatted, or “handed” into the goal is it? In football it’s hard to tell if a player tried to pull up when hitting a quarterback late, but in hockey you can look at the player’s skates and determine if a stop was intended. Gaborik pretty visibly was trying to stop.

Even if the War Room decided no not overturn the call, I’m sure it would have put more people’s feelings at ease to know they at least gave it a second look. Now it will forever remain a “bad call” by a majority of the people who were watching the game.

Ryan Gilmore

There’s an inherent conflict between my New Jersey Devils fandom and my dogma/world view/philosophical bull[crap] about the National Hockey League.

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