Video reviews irk NHL playoff watchers
The calls end up right, but checking and reviewing plays runs way too long
First, a small confession.
In the interest of fairness, I was among those hockey watchers bothered by missed offside calls that led to goals scored. It didn’t matter if 15, 20 or 50 seconds had elapsed before the goal went in, offside is offside. I always breathed easier on a missed offside when the puck was cleared and the next sequence would bring an honest entry into the zone.
It’s important to get calls right. At the same time, we have to be careful what we wish for. On any given night in the Stanley Cup playoffs, games are being hijacked by video review upon review, either for an offside, goaltender interference or goal review.
At its worst, we get a situation like Wednesday night, when an NHL review of a goal-crease play was piled on by a request from the Florida Panthers to challenge the review. The result? A nine-minute, 20-second delay in a Panthers-Islanders game that suffered badly from the inertia.
Whatever made the Panthers staff believe the officials were going to undo the call they had just reviewed — a no-goal on Jonathan Huberdeau’s jam play — is unclear.
But head coach Gerard Gallant said afterward he and his assistants felt so strongly it should have counted, they were willing to risk their timeout so the play could be looked at one more time.
At least fans at home can switch to another hockey game or check in on the Blue Jays during the interminable reviews. I feel sorry for fans at the rink paying the big bucks. When the playoffs are done, the NHL is going to have to find a way to streamline and expedite the review process. At it is, it’s too painful to watch.
BEERS ON POTVIN
NHL teams love to honour their icons by retiring jersey numbers and raising their name banners to the rafters. But when the icons join a rival broadcast crew, all bets are off. Legendary New York Islanders captain Denis Potvin, who once provided television commentary for the Ottawa Senators, works for the Florida Panthers broadcast Fox Sports Florida. At the end of the Wednesday broadcast of the Panthers 2-1 win over the Islanders at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, a fan threw a beer, or a soda, at Potvin and play-by-play man Steve Goldstein. “Unbelievable,” Potvin said on air as Goldstein described the fan as a “moron.” Surely this never would have happened when the Isles were at the Nassau Coliseum, where Potvin led the Islanders to four consecutive Stanley Cups from 1980-83. For all we know, the fan didn’t realize an Islanders Hall of Famer was in that booth. Still, a sad development. Even New York Rangers fans at MSG who still chant “Potvin sucks!” are classier than that.
GOALIE-GO-ROUND
Teams have won Stanley Cups by using two goaltenders — but not for a very long time. Perhaps your grandfather told you about the time the Toronto Maple Leafs won a Cup with two goalies. Except for an emergency switch, a goaltender handoff in the playoffs is usually a bad sign — such as last spring when Andrew Hammond of the Senators finally lost his mojo after carrying Ottawa to the playoffs. Hammond lost the first two games of the quarterfinal series against the Montreal Canadiens and was replaced by Craig Anderson. Anderson played well, but Montreal prevailed in six games.
For all we know, the fan didn’t realize an Islanders Hall of Famer was in that booth. Still, a sad development.
Heading into Thursday’s games, six of the 16 playoff teams have used more than one goalie. Most, but not all, were trailing in their series. The Pittsburgh Penguins and Dallas Stars carried series leads despite using a pair of tenders. With No. 1 goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury sidelined, the Penguins’ situation is chaotic. Rookie backup Matt Murray was injured on the final day of the regular season, but is now back playing after Jeff Zatkoff started the series and was somewhat heroic in helping deliver a Game 1 win. The Stars situation is interesting, as head coach Lindy Ruff opened with Kari Lehtonen, who won two of the first three games. Then, sensing Lehtonen might be tiring, he switched to veteran Antti Niemi, a Cup winner with Chicago in 2010, who prevailed in Game 4.
Anaheim, Detroit, Philadelphia and the New York Rangers have all used two goaltenders. The Rangers hope they don’t have to replace Henrik Lundqvist again due to injury.
SPEZZA’S SKATE SCORES
He’d just missed on a breakaway opportunity, so Jason Spezza was probably due to get a break. It came a few minutes later when a pass deflected off his skate and past Devan Dubnyk in the Minnesota goal for the Dallas Stars game winner Wednesday. With the 3-2 victory, the Stars took a 3-1 series lead and can finish off the Wild in Dallas on Friday. Spezza provided a goal and assist and has four playoff points.
It was important for him to step up as the Stars were without forward Tyler Seguin for Game 4. A scoring oddity: All three Dallas scorers were former Senators — Spezza, Patrick Eaves and Ales Hemsky.