Jackets unhappy with penalty that nullifies goal, turns tide
PITTSBURGH — Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella roared from the bench at the referees moments after the puck was being fished from the Pittsburgh Penguins’ net.
Seconds earlier, his players were celebrating an apparent tying goal from Oliver Bjorkstrand with 16:08 remaining in the third period.
PPG Paints Arena was stunned and silent, the home team having surrendered a three-goal lead. But the referee Eric Furlatt waved off the goal, ruling Alexander Wennberg had interfered with goaltender MarcAndre Fleury right before Bjorkstrand swept the puck into an empty net.
With Wennberg in the penalty box, the Penguins’ Sidney Crosby scored to make it 4-2 on the way to a 5-2 win that eliminated the Blue Jackets on Thursday night in Game 5 of their firstround playoff series.
The sequence proved the turning point and left the Blue Jackets fuming with the call even as they tempered their postgame comments.
“It is what it is and it sucks.” Wennberg said. “I’m not trying to go in and hit the goalie. I think he was out (of the crease) and I got pushed in there. Obviously, the game changed right there.”
There is plenty of irony involved, given the player who was penalized. Wennberg finished the regular season with 21 penalty minutes — the secondfewest among Blue Jackets’ forwards — and is more Lady Byng than crease crasher.
He drove the net and was being tied up by Penguins forward Scott Wilson, whose stick pressed against the chest of the Blue Jackets’ center. Wennberg made contact with Fleury, who was on top of his crease anticipating a shot.
Replays show most of Fleury’s body was outside the blueshaded area, but that his left skate was on the line before he fell to the ice.
“It’s tough for me,” Wennberg said. “I’m not trying to do anything. The ref makes a call and I think he’s just guessing, but that’s my opinion. I’m not going to say too much about it.”
Wilson appeared to ride Wennberg into Fleury.
On the bench, Tortorella seemed to be motioning that Wennberg had been hooked by Wilson. He refused, however, to get drawn into the controversy in his postgame news conference.
“You guys watched the game,” Tortorella said. “You don’t need my help with that.”
Asked whether he thought Fleury was in the crease, Tortorella said: “I’m not talking about that play.”
Furlatt could have nullified the goal without calling a penalty, citing incidental contact. But he chose to award the Penguins a power play.
Pittsburgh scored their second powerplay goal of the game and fifth of the series as Crosby beat Sergei Bobrovsky on a sharpangle shot with 21 seconds left in the Wennberg penalty.