The Boston Bruins dropped their second straight game Sunday night, but the result wasn’t without some controversy.
With the game tied at one in the second period, Brad Marchand slid a puck past Buffalo Sabres netminder Linus Ullmark to cap off a scrum in front of the net. Right as Marchand was shooting, however, a referee blew their whistle, presumably because they thought the puck was being frozen.
The officials went and communicated with the league review center, but after a few minute delay they said the goal could not be reviewed because the whistle was blown before the shot went in. The whistle and the shot narrowly were separated, so the call clearly, and understandably, drew the ire of the Bruins.
Boston ultimately lost 4-2, with an empty-netter accounting for the Sabres’ fourth tally. With the tight result, suffice to say had Marchand been credited with a goal, it would have shifted the momentum heading into the final frame.
After the game, head coach Bruce Cassidy reacted to the non-goal.
“I was given, first by the linesman, that it was a goal on the ice, so I was confused when they came over and told me that – first of all they announce non-reviewable,” Cassidy said, via a team-provided transcript. “I found out later through the assistant captains that he was in the process of blowing his whistle. I think it was a poor call. The puck’s visible. We scored the goal. There’s no goalie interference. At least the other night in Pittsburgh it’s on the goalie; you could see where they could lose it.
“My beef is, you know I’m not a big fan of review, but the reason it’s brought in in the first place in any sport is to get the call right, and I thought there was a clear example of it’s a good goal,” Cassidy added. “The puck was never frozen, no goalie interference. You’d hope they get that one right, so for me it’s a head scratcher how that one gets off the board especially when the National Hockey League has been preaching how to get goals. In September the video comes out that unless it’s something really, really egregious we want to keep the goals. I was very surprised when that one came off the board.”
Cassidy added the call on the ice never was a goal.
“No, apparently the linesman got it wrong with the referee, so that was where the miscommunication was, so I assumed it would stand,” the B’s head coach said. Now they can always challenge goalie interference. That’s always their prerogative if it came to that. Then I was told later that it was not called a goal on the ice. He was in the process of blowing the play down. And they always put out an email on what rule it was. I’m not going to quote that because I don’t know what rule it is.”
Here are some other notes from Sunday’s Bruins-Sabres game:
— Torey Krug scored a key goal in the third period, and it particularly was impressive given what had just transpired.
At 13:21, Krug one-timed a feed from David Krejci to level the score at two. Equally impressive, however, was the fact that Krug briefly had left the game and went down the tunnel a few minutes early after taking a puck to the face. It was shortly after his return to the ice that Krug tied the game.
Although the effort essentially was negated by the fact that Jeff Skinner would put the Sabres back ahead about three minutes later, it nonetheless was a nice rebound from the Bruins blueliner.
— Steven Kampfer buried his first goal of the season.
The defenseman sniped home a shot off a nice feed from Joakim Nordstrom, who created the opportunity with some nice stickwork while fighting off Rasmus Dahlin as he skated around the net.
It was Kampfer’s first goal with the B’s since March 3, 2011.
— The Bruins will face the Montreal Canadiens on Monday with fourth place in the division on the line.
The Habs currently own the fourth spot with 39 points, while the B’s sit in fifth with 38. When the two sides met in November it was a wildly entertaining affair, so Monday night promises to be exciting.
