HOW IS THAT A GOOD GOAL? NHL OFFICIALS MAKE ANOTHER CONTROVERSIAL DECISION
On Thursday night, the Florida Panthers won 6-2 over the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Center. Florida's Sam Reinhart had a three points night (1 goal and 2 assists) and Matthew Tkachuk scored twice. The Panthers scored five goals in the second period and Montreal couldn't come back.
At 6:30 in the second period, Reinhart scored the first goal for Florida. He fired a shot from the circle after a rebound from captain Aleksander Barkov. As Reinhart fired, Tkachuk's foot was directly in the goal crease, preventing Montreal goalie Samuel Montembeault from returning to his spot. Canada's head coach Martin St-Louis challenged the referees' decision. All fans at the Bell Center believed the decision would be overturned.
Surprisingly, the decision on the ice remained unchanged, and the officials declared that it was a good goal. Later, the National Hockey League (NHL) stated that it had decided that it was a good goal because it believed that Montembeault would not have been able to make the save even if Tkachuk had not been in the way.
This decision completely changed the momentum and Montreal did not recover from it. Before that, Montreal had played well and had many scoring chances. After this decision, the young Canadian team lost its focus. It's really sad that the referees' decision had a direct impact on the game. The NHL really needs to clarify what they define as goalie interference. It's really not clear, and it's getting more and more frustrating for hockey fans.
Do you think it was a good goal?
| POLL | ||
Do you think it was a good goal? | ||
| Yes | 23 | 16.8 % |
| No | 114 | 83.2 % |
| List of polls | ||
