Perhaps one of the most dangerous precedents in hockey history has been started by Gary Bettman’s “model franchise.” You know, the same one that was about to move to Kansas City due to fan base disenchantment, ended up drafting in the top two selections four years in a row, and eventually won a Stanley Cup last year after some questionable “good luck” throughout the playoffs?
Yeah that’s the Pittsburgh Penguins, complete with two of the top three players in the world. For all those conspiracy nuts out there, I would just like to point out that Gary Bettman is not sitting on the phone calling the officials during Penguins games, but there is clearly something fishy going on. If you witnessed the 7-4 victory earlier this week then you know exactly what I’m talking about.
Yes, Gagne definitely scored his 500th career point during a game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Though he eventually got it last night in a 4-1 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning, there still seems to be a certain injustice going on here.
Well, according to Sam Carchidi, this is how it all went down:
An NHL executive said last night that replay officials in Toronto were not given the proper replays by Fox Sports in Pittsburgh on Thursday, when they ruled that Simon Gagne’s goal did not count against the host Penguins.
Gagne swatted a second-period rebound that Penguins goalie Brent Johnson smothered and appeared to carry into the net. It was not ruled a goal on the ice, and when replay officials in Toronto viewed the replays, they said the evidence was “inconclusive” and did not count the goal. A few minutes after the ruling, another replay was shown in the press box, showing the puck past the goal line.
Fox did not send that replay to Toronto officials until after the puck was dropped following the ruling.
“At that point, the ruling was permanent,” said John Dellapina, an NHL executive.
The Flyers’ telecast was using the Pittsburgh video feed and did not have any video to send to Toronto.
This brings up a number of questions:
- Have they done this before?
- How many times have they done this?
- What else could they be getting away with?
If you’re not at least asking some very important questions at this point, then you’re missing something. What use is video replay in the NHL if teams, especially ones like the Pittsburgh Penguins who seem to have good luck flying out of their skates, withhold evidence to keep reviews/calls in their favor?
Granted, the Flyers won that game by a pretty sizable score, but if the Penguins had managed to come back, this would be a game 2 fiasco all over again. For those unfamiliar with game 2 of the playoff series last year, please refer to this:
Other News
The Flyers are now 7-1-1 in their last 9 after a 4-1 win at home against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Betts scored twice with a goal each by Giroux and Hartnell. The Dallas Stars come into town Tuesday for a 7:00 game.
Leighton performed well yet again. If you take out the Ottawa game, where after 9 minutes he had a 13.16 GAA and a 0.714 SV%, then he is sitting at 1.84 GAA and a 0.942 SV%. Just imagine what Ray Emery could do behind a team performing this well.
Speaking of Emery, last night during a 2-1 Adirondack Phantoms loss to Portland, he let in 2 goals on 14 shots against for a 2.03 GAA and a 0.857 SV%. Numbers aren’t always a fair and reasonable way to show how well someone performed, but it might be another game or two before Emery starts for the Flyers once again.
