When Boston Bruins defenseman John Moore fired the puck into the Colorado zone, it took a strange bounce off the curved glass alongside the bench and bounced past Avs goaltender Semyon Varlamov.
The goal was waved off as quickly as it entered the net.
“There is no goal on the play,” announced referee Dean Morton, who ducked to avoid the deflected puck. “The puck hit the round partition at the bench.”
From Rule 85.1:
Should the puck strike the curved glass located at the end of either players’ bench, play shall be stopped when observed by any of the on-ice officials. The ensuing face-off shall be determined as if the puck went outside the playing area.
The curved glass along the benches was added to arenas in 2012, prompted in part by a dangerous hit from Boston’s Zdeno Chara that injured Montreal’s Max Pacioretty in March of 2011. The Habs’ winger suffered a concussion and fractured vertebra. Chara was given a major penalty for interference and a game misconduct, but was not suspended. The curved glass was introduced to lessen the impact of similar hits.
