A bit too far to remember but I do recall he was hung out to dry by his defense that game, and the one against Calgary. My point is that Halak is very overrated, he'll never get better than what he is now. Price is much more complete. Halak shat the bed last night, just like he did in the final three regular season games.
I'm in a long-term keeper league and I have Price on my team. I plan on re-signing him basically on the logic you just presented. Plus, in my opinion, this season is an outlier for Halak, and I don't think he will be able to consistently produce at this level again (or at least over an extended period of time, like for seasons on end). If I were running the Habs, I would seriously consider selling high on Halak now to improve your team and giving the job to Price. As for Boyle, there are no words for that. Let's go Avs.
Jesus fuck the Canucks are terrible tonight. Hey, let's just let Doughty and Johnson float into the middle and take a point shot without challenging them at all. Yeah, that makes sense.
That was the most ridiculously bad call from a video review I have ever seen. There is absolutely no way to even argue that was a distinct kicking motion. Here's to hoping the guy in charge of video reviews tonight dies in a horrible single car accident while drunk driving home tonight since he's obviously had more than a few. Even the referees were watching the replay on the big screen while they waited and you could see them discussing how it was a good goal. Fucking retarded. /e-rage
Pretty sure your skate would fall into the "other than with a stick" category. So it needs to be directed, which is what happened. The skate is what pushed it towards the net. Unlike a deflection where the skate simply changes the direction, the skate gave the motion and direction. I'm a huge Canucks fan, but that was no goal by the NHL standards. Last night in Ottawa the same thing happened, against the Sens. And it doesn't matter how many bad calls there were tonight, the Canucks play is the reason they lost, not the refs. Who spent probably 30 minutes of the last two periods in their own zone? Who's penalty kill let in 3 goals on 3 chances? Who got outmuscled and out hustled to every puck? The Canucks did, not the refs.
This is the rule (49.2 of the NHL rules book, to be exact) According to the current rules, that should have been a goal.
Because the skate "propelled" it towards the net it was a no-goal. It seems like there are contradicting parts to the rule. One says anything other than a stick knocking the puck in and it's no-goal, the other says it has to be a distinct kicking motion. Fact is though that I've seen this play multiple times before, including Ottawa just two nights ago. And it's always been no-goal. Say what you want about the wording of the rule, the NHL has always read it in the way that I'm trying to present it.
Puck Daddy post with an explanation from the NHL brass on why the goal wasn't allowed. I tuned in just in time to see the goal. For me, it's one of those situations where it could have gone either way. I believe that a player can "kick" in a puck like like Sedin did there as opposed to the more traditional soccer like kick. In this case though, I felt like he was turning his skate more to stop than to re-direct the puck.
Apparently the "clarification and enforcement" of the rule is detailed in one of the DVD's the league mailed out to every team earlier this year, and they're going off of that. I realize it's not a necessity to release this stuff to the general public, but it'd be nice to actually know how the league is interpreting rules.
Tough call either way. From the former players perspective, I feel like its always tough to get a good goal off the skate "deflection" rule. If I honestly have enough time to try and angle my skate so it will land on net, most of the time it will look like a kick. I still remember when they implemented that rule (in NY Public HS hockey) in 2006. Our coach spent like 20 minutes explaining it, and then after 10 minutes of tip-in drills with our skates only we never did it again. It's tough to do. I have one beef with the explanation via the Puck Daddy article: Like I said, tough call, but that isn't a very convincing defense to me. My theory is the same if you trying to deflect a pass with your skate; Sometimes you have to move the skate - whether forward or backwards - to do so. Let's go Kings by the way.
I completely agree that the Canucks lost this game on their own and that in the end that no-goal was irrelevant. As for the rest of your first post about bad reffing I referred only to the video review in my original post and actually thought the on-ice officiating in the game other than the review was about as good as it gets in the NHL and was leaps and bounds better than what I've seen in some of the other playoff games (one of the sharks-avs games was particularly horrible). Hell they even managed to call a high stick at one point (which seems to have become a non-call favorite of the refs of late) despite the fact that there was no player skating around afterward with a stick embedded halfway to the hilt in his visor. Picture added purely for awesomeness, not to make a point. Every time I see this picture it makes me laugh. Sedin just looks violated. "You said just the tip..." The Canucks overall performance, second period in particular, was an embarrassment. You could stick 4 mannequins on skates and have a more effective penalty kill than what I saw last night. I still disagree with the review but whatever, I'm already sick of hearing about it. Especially all the conspiracy theory bullshit that's floating around about it right now about the league hating the Canucks and Mike Murphy being a former King. Argue the ruling not your delusions of the motives behind them. Fuck my coworkers. When you look at these side by side like this it's actually kind of funny in a way. Perhaps it's time to get the whiteout and remove a word or 2 from the rulebook there hey guys? Rulebook: A puck that is directed into the net by an attacking player’s skate shall be a legitimate goal as long as no distinct kicking motion is evident. Mike Murphy: It had to be propelled some way. Not with a distinct kicking motion, but with a kicking motion, that made it move back the other way. Spoiler tags added because I think I started to get a little off topic here and more than a little nit-picky but I'll leave it in because I feel like it. Spoiler As for your statement about the league being consistent in it's calls about this kind of thing I have to disagree with you on that. Like you I can also remember similar disallowed goals but there are also similar 'good' goals which is part of what got me so worked up in the first place. I'd like to have found one more recent than October of this season and I'm sure there is one but I don't feel like searching through that many hours of video so I went with the only one I could remember the specifics of. Goal and replay at around the 2 minute mark. Tried to find a better one where they slow it down and zoom in more but no luck. <a class="postlink" href="http://penguins.fandome.com/video/116258/Sidney-Crosby-Gets-Hat-Trick-in-Penguins-6-1-Victory-over-Canadiens/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://penguins.fandome.com/video/11625 ... Canadiens/</a> Puck hits goal-tender and deflects away from the net. Puck hits skate which is moving towards the net. Puck is propelled forward by skate into the net. Upon review, goal is ruled good because there was no distinct kicking motion. I remember watching this and thinking it was a sure-thing no-goal only to have the league point at the rulebook and talk me into it. To me the call on these two goals should be the same. Both goals of both not. To call one a goal and the other not is inconsistent in my opinion.
That second period of the Sens-Pens game was crazy. Ref's weren't helping the home team in my eyes to say the least. Also, snipe by Pavelski. Great toedrag. Can't stop a top-ched that you can't see, Anderson.
The wild, wild, Western Conference. Great hockey game to finish up in L.A. Looking forward to COL @ SJ same time tomorrow with some brews. What a tip in by Kopitar -- hard to pick but prob my fav. goal of that game. Last random thought... what was Miller doing on Satan? Granted, great recognition/move, but it's like Miller was trying to bum-rush him. Great night there really hasn't been a dull night so far this playoffs. Best time of the year.
What the fuck is going on with the too many men calls in the playoffs? Before tonight, TSN said they were averaging double the regular season rate (1 every 2.5 games vs. 1 every 5 games) and then in every single game tonight there was at least one two many men call. In the LA-Vancouver game, each team took one. LA and Washington's were both ridiculous, Washington being the worst with 6 guys in the attacking zone during a powerplay. TSN seemed to think it had to with the amount of line matching coaches are trying for now, which seems like a fairly plausible answer, but still. This is just ridiculous. Montreal just can't seem to hold a lead. This is the second game in a row that they've had the lead in the winding seconds of the second period, only to have the Caps get a late goal, giving them momentum going into the third. I don't know what's worse, giving up a 4-1 lead, or giving up a short-handed goal that ties it up at two. Both have to hurt, and unfortunately it has cost them dearly. Doubt they'll make it out of Game 5 alive. After the Van-LA game I was as excited about the win as I was about the fact that the Canucks killed off two penalties in one game. LA was 7 for 12 going into tonight and scored two goals on the power play, and one during a delayed penalty. That has got to be close to some sort of record. But like the cliche goes, your goalie has to be your best penalty killer, and I think Lou has turned a corner. His save percentage from tonight tell another story, but that had to be his best game in a while. Not only did he make some great saves, but he played with a ton of confidence which we hadn't seen in a while. Coming out to challenge Johnson and just hoping that the team would cover any passes was probably the lightbulb turning on for me. Let's hope he can ride this into Friday's game. So that's four out of four games that the Sabres have scored first in this series, two of them having held a 2-0 lead. Yet they keep letting Boston back in. I know missing Vanek will hurt, but you're still managing to put pucks in the net. Can't you just keep Boston from putting them in yours? Miller and Rask put on another stellar show, both making amazing diving saves at different points in the game to keep it going. And going back to my first point, for Buffalo to lose in double OT because of a too many men call? That has gotta hurt.
I think all the too many men penalties has more to do with the pacing of the games in these playoffs. I don't remember the last time I saw such a fast overall game pace across the board. In playoff hockey we always see games at a higher level and a faster tempo but to me it looks like this years is a bit more frantic than usual. The line matching is certainly part of it but line matching isn't exactly new to playoff hockey. Or any hockey for that matter. All the end to end action seems to be resulting in a lot of "Time to change... oh shit we're on a rush I better get in on this... hey what's that guy doing out here, that's my posi.... Fuck." Add in the fact that some players seem to have noticed all the calls and look to be throwing the puck around the benches during the other teams changes in hopes of generating a too many men penalty. But that might just be my imagination running wild. Loving the playoffs this year. Every game in every series has been worth watching. A little off topic here but the play last night where the Canucks ate some time with Luongos net off reminded me of a play from a couple of years ago, wondering if anyone remembers who it was. Attacking team knocks the net off just as the defending team breaks out of the zone on a bit of a rush. Now since the net was off the team that's now going on defense had no way to score should the puck make its way back to the zone so the goal tender bails for an extra attacker. Anyone remember who the goalie was and/or the teams involved? My google skills are failing me.
Not a clue what you're talking about but if anyone can recall such an incident I would be impressed. Sharks looked like themselves from the regular season tonight... god damnit. Also, Go Sens Go... that's what you get Matt Cooke...
Something that analysts have been point out: If all the teams leading their series' in the east win, Boston and Pittsburgh will meet in the second round. And Marc Savard is skating right now. While a return this quickly seems unlikely, he has passed several tests, including his neuropsychological testing. Rumor has it that if the Bruins make it (which they probably will) Savard could return part way through that series.
Pardon my ignorance for a minute, but what the hell does "last change" mean. I never remember hearing this term before last years playoffs, and only during the playoffs and not at all during the regular season. It was my understanding that you could change lines whenever you were tired. (Except maybe after an icing?) Someone please explain.