The NHL’s Situation Room has taken over making the final decision on goaltender interference. The controversial reviews, though, continue.
Nashville thought they had tied the score in a final second of Tuesday night’s game against the Florida Panthers only to have a review wipe the goal off the board.
Florida goaltender Roberto Luongo stopped the initial shot from Roman Josi with forward Viktor Arvidsson perched at the top of the crease, digging for a rebound. Luongo twisted to his left, the puck squirting free on his glove side. Preds winger Filip Forsberg fired the loose puck into the net. Referee Tim Peel immediately signaled a goal on the ice.
As with all goals in the final minute of play or in overtime, the play was automatically reviewed by the NHL’s Situation Room. Previously, the determination was made by the on-ice officials; as of last week, the final decision is made by the Situation Room. Their ruling: no goal.
“After video review,” announced referee Tim Peel, “it has been determined that there was goaltender interference. There is no goal.”
The NHL Situation Room – with a retired referee also weighing in on the decision – determined that Arvidsson pushed Luongo, causing the puck to come loose.
“Either the refs don’t know or Toronto doesn’t know,” said Arvidsson. “They’re definitely not on the same page because there’s so many different situations and similar situations, too, that get called both ways. I don’t know who made the call here, but they definitely didn’t get it right.”
“It’s a goal,” he added. “It’s got to be a goal. I don’t know what’s going on. It’s so inconsistent that we don’t even know when it’s a goal or not, but this one was clearly a goal. The puck was never covered. The goalie had no clue where it is, and it ends up on my tape and it’s in, and they somehow don’t think so. I disagree [with the call] 100 percent.”
From the NHL:
The Situation Room determined the deliberate actions of Arvidsson’s stick caused Luongo to spin and cause the covered puck to come loose prior to the goal. Rule 78.7 states in part: “The standard for overturning the call in the event of a “GOAL” call on the ice is that the NHL Situation Room (which shall include a former referee in the Officiating Department in the decision-making process), after reviewing any and all available replays and consulting with the Referee who made the original call, determines that the goal should have been disallowed due to “Interference on the Goalkeeper,” as described in Rules 69.1, 69.3 and 69.4.”
Rule 69.1 (2) states that goals should be disallowed if “an attacking player initiates intentional or deliberate contact with a goalkeeper, inside or outside of his goal.”
