Let’s get this out of the way first — an overturned goal in the third period was far from the only reason why the Bruins’ six-game win streak came to an end on Tuesday night in Montreal.
Boston’s 5-4 loss to the Habs was the byproduct of many shortcomings from a B’s club closing out its second three-in-four slate in as many games.
Tuukka Rask, who entered the game with a stout stat line comprised of a .949 save percentage and 1.49 GA, finally blinked between the pipes — surrendering five goals in the loss, three of which he’ll want to have back off of low-danger attempts.
Boston’s buzzsaw of a top line was held off the scoresheet during 5v5 play, while the Habs managed to pot a pair of goals against Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak in 13:34 of ice time.
An up-tempo Montreal crew used its speed and sluggish puck play from the B’s to hold skating clinics in Boston’s zone, with a gassed lineup unable to withstand an active Canadiens forecheck.
And yet, for as much as things went wrong for Bruce Cassidy’s team, it still put itself in a good position to at least earn a point against its longtime rival.
In fact, the Bruins very well could have left the Bell Centre with two points. After all, Charlie Coyle appeared to give Boston a 5-4 lead at 5:23 in the third period — give Boston its first lead of the night in what was an uphill climb in enemy territory.
(Photo by Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire)
Bruins
After first regulation loss in 26 days, Bruins continue to have a ‘beef’ with a flawed offside challenge
But, in a 2019-20 campaign that hasn’t featured many setbacks, the Bruins once again found themselves in the crosshairs of one opponent that haven’t been able to best quite yet — the video review room in Toronto.
Immediately after Coyle light the lamp,
Claude Julien
and the Habs challenged by way of the NHL’s offside review.
Three minutes later - the Bruins had their goal wiped off the board. And less than four minutes after play resumed, Montreal countered, with
Ben Chiarot
beating Rask to give the Habs a lead that they would not relinquish. Brutal.
According to the NHL’s press release following the game, the decision to overturn Coyle’s game was due to Rule 38.9 — which states:
"The standard for overturning the call in the event of a "GOAL" call on the ice is that the NHL Situation Room, after reviewing any and all available replays and consulting with the On-Ice Official(s), determines that one or more players on the attacking team preceded the puck into the attacking zone prior to the goal being scored and that, as a result, the play should have been stopped for an "Off-Side" infraction; where this standard is met, the goal will be disallowed."
But aside from the frustrations that come from the offsides challenge in terms of taking away a goal that might have been generated 10/20/30 seconds after said infraction took place, the case could made that Coyle wasn’t even offside in the first place — given that it seemed as though Coyle was in possession of the biscuit as he entered into Montreal’s zone.
And even if you wanted to rule that Coyle didn’t have possession of the puck, it still took officials over three minutes to find the B’s center was offside — a facet of the ruling that drew the most ire from Cassidy.
“So now you’re looking for something for it to be offside. You know it’s going to go the other way, and it did. That’s where my beef comes from. Intent of the rule. You always want to get it right, but there was kind of a change this summer, punishing the coaches if they got it wrong, for this reason. They didn’t want three-minute reviews. Anyway, it was a big part of the game. Didn’t go our way, so that’s the way it goes some nights.”
Along with Tuesday’s result, the Bruins had two goals wiped off the board against the Avalanche on October 10 — a game in which Boston lost, 4-2. One of those was another offside challenge, with Pastrnak ruled as the guilty party over 50 seconds before
Jake DeBrusk
eventually tallied what would have been a go-ahead goal for Boston in Denver.
October 22, and the Bruins have now had four goals taken away by way of video review. Yuck.
Still, there are many teams that would kill to be in the spot that the Bruins are in now, with Boston still standing atop the Atlantic with a record of 11-2-2. But one still has to wonder what Boston's record would be if those four goals weren't wiped off the board
“It was just one of those nights," Cassidy added. "Even, on the first goal — they cross-checked Torey (Krug) into Tuukka. But you can’t challenge a non-penalty call. So there was a lot of stuff going on at both ends of the rink. None of that really went out way. Give credit to Montreal, they ended up getting the deciding goal at the end and that’s the way it goes.”
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