The NHL is back on ESPN, and while for many years I said that this really wasn't a big deal, how just as many people would watch the playoffs if they were on NBCSN, I was apparently wrong. In America, if you work in hockey, all your friends and neighbors who are casual sports fans come to you with questions about hockey. Three times over the past two weeks I was asked essentially the same question.
"What's the deal with the coach's needing to challenge questionable goals and getting a penalty if it turns out the goal shouldn't have counted?"
The instances occurred in the Nashville/Colorado game and again in the first game of the Panthers/Lightning series.
Let's look at the Panthers/Lightning play. Kucherov scored a late power-play goal with about six minutes to go in a 2-1 game to make it 3-1, The replay showed a Tampa player collided with Bobrovsky's head before the shot and the TV announcers themselves said it looked like the goal could be called back, but it was close. The Panthers, now looking at a 2 goal deficit as opposed to being one shot away from tying it, had to challenge the call and take their chances.
And here's the point here. No one on the ice was sure about whether or not the goal should be allowed to stand until it was looked at. Why are we punishing a team for an attempt to get it right? It was a judgment call and the goal was allowed to stand, AND now not only were the Panthers down 3-1, but they were penalized for simply asking the league to check. The Lightning scored on that power play as well, and what was a good close game became with an exciting end was destroyed simply because the NHL essentially said, "How DARE you ask us to get it right?"
The calls I received from casual fans said, "The NFL checks every TD in the fourth quarters if games, and every TD in the playoffs. Why would the NHL be so afraid of looking bad that they threaten teams to challenge them?"
It's a damn good question. And it really makes the NHL look amateur. The NHL does check goals that occur in playoff overtimes automatically....why not third periods?
It is patently absurd to put coaches in this situation. I understand that the NHL doesn't want to have coaches delay the game by questioning every call, but every third-period goal seems completely fair.
We will eventually see a team afraid to challenge and a goal that should have been overturned allowed to stand. Does the NHL feel better about its product by allowing goals that shouldn't count to count despite having the technology to get it right?
Until this is changed we will continue to see great games potentially ruined by a team simply asking to the league to do its job.
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