Nashville shows diplomatic side

No public outcry over disallowed goal

Nashville defenseman P.K. Subban said he probably is the worst person to ask about the NHL’s offside review rule, claiming he doesn’t pay attention to rule changes.

But he’s probably pretty familiar after Game 1 Monday night of the Stanley Cup final. It cost him the first goal of the game 7:31 into the first period, and his Predators ended up falling against the Penguins, 5-3.

The rule, which allows for an instant-replay review of any zone entry preceding a goal, has been controversial since its introduction last season.

“I watched the replay just on the Jumbotron,” Subban said. “I thought for sure it was going to be a good goal, you know? I didn’t get the explanation. I’m not really sure.”

Subban, his teammates and Nashville coach Peter Laviolette were diplomatic when asked Tuesday about the decision to overturn Subban’s goal. Subban said the rule ultimately is meant to make the game better, and he understands the decision — even if it did hurt his team.

“Obviously, we would have loved that goal to have counted, but it didn’t,” Subban said.

“At the end of the day, rule changes are going to affect games, but that’s why you got to win four games to win a series.

“There’s still a lot of hockey left to be played.”

Laviolette added that he thinks the rule works but declined to express his broader thoughts on the offside review and coach’s challenge rules.

‘Disappointed’ but ...

Laviolette doesn’t believe the Predators were rattled in the first period in Game 1, when seemingly everything went wrong for them.

Rather, he thinks bad bounces were the cause of Nashville entering the second frame facing a 3-0 deficit. Nashville gave up three goals in the final third of the first period.

The first resulted from a two-minute 5-on-3 power play after Calle Jarnkrok was called for interference and James Neal for crosschecking; the third came after a shot from Penguins center Nick Bonino bounced off Predators defenseman Mattias Ekholm and into the goal.

“I think that last goal was tough, where it goes off of Ekholm’s shin guard, it’s a nothing play,” Laviolette said.

“It’s not a scoring chance. That pushed it to 3-0. I don’t feel like we were rattled at all. I don’t think we played poorly at all through the game.”