The San Jose Sharks haven’t had the best luck with officiating this season, especially on plays around their net. On Tuesday night, they fell victim to another bad call that might have cost them the hockey game.
The Sharks ended up losing 3-2 to the Nashville Predators, largely because of a questionable ruling in the second period, when the Preds pushed their lead to 3-1 after Roman Josi scored from the right point.
Josi’s goal was made possible by some pretty strong Predators net-front traffic. Of course, that net-front pressure just happened to be Nashville forward Colin Wilson plowing into San Jose goalie Antti Niemi. It looked like pretty obvious goaltender interference, as Niemi wasn’t able to make a play on the puck, but it was ruled a good goal. Despite protests from the Sharks, who argued that Wilson took away Niemi’s ability to try to stop the puck, the referee ruled Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic pushed Wilson into Niemi.
“Even if there was a touch of contact there, you’re not allowed to jump on top of the goaltender,” Sharks head coach Todd McLellan said, according to NHL.com. “We all know that. There’s a lot of people that understand that. But it happened.”
This isn’t the first time the Sharks have been hurt by a perceived blown call this season — far from it, actually. San Jose has been on the short end of at least three controversial calls this season, and that doesn’t include Tuesday night’s game.
See the play in question below.
