Watching the Islanders @ Canadiens game tonight was a dramatic illustration of the inconsistencies and insanities of the NHL's Refereeing and replay challenges.
In the second frame the Canadiens were down 4-2 and scored a PP goal just as the PP was ending. The Islanders challenged for offsides on the goal. The entry was 53 seconds prior to the goal and the Hab that entered the zone with the puck was deemed to have been offsides. It was so close and it came down whether his skate was one inch off the ice as he received the puck and entered the zone. The challenge overturned the goal. Since it happened so long before the goal the Habs got the clock reset and had another 55 seconds of PP.
This was bad. We've discussed the insanity of challenging offsides after a team has been in the zone for so long.
Then within a minute a penalty was called for interference against Montreal as they were on a breakaway chance. Within moments the replay showed that the Islander player lost an edge and fell into the Montreal player. So Montreal goes from a scoring chance to a PK on a bad call and even though the Refs could clearly see the replay withing seconds they did not/could not change the call.
They spent 3-4 minutes making sure they got the ridiculous offsides call right, which shouldn't matter anyway, but there was no way to act on what should have been an instant reversal of the totally wrong interference penalty.
"Absolute Stupidity", that should be on all NHL business cards.
I believe this cost Montreal the game. They lost in OT.
