New York Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault was not happy with officials on Thursday night.
Vigneault was upset about his team’s 4-3 loss, no doubt, but he appeared to be even more upset about how the loss occurred—particularly when it came to the tying goal.
Midway through the third period, Carolina rookie Sebastian Aho fired a laser past Antti Raanta to even the score at 3-3. Raanta immediately complained to the referee that there was interference on the play and Vigneault issued a coach’s challenge, but the officials deemed it a good goal after reviewing it.
“In all the times I’ve asked for challenges, and since we’ve been allowed to do this, this one I’m 100 per cent sure I’m right,” Vigneault told reporters after the game. “I’m looking at [the replay] … [Raanta’s] two feet are in the blue paint and there’s contact that lifts his mask and obviously he can’t see the shot,” Vigneault explained. “And then they told us that Antti’s feet were in the blue but his head was outside the blue paint, so it was involuntary contact because Antti’s face was out of the blue.”
“In my opinion, it was the wrong call,” he said. “At the end of the day, we didn’t play well enough in the third period. We got outplayed, they came back and scored two power play goals.
“There’s no doubt that that challenge, for me, it was a turning point, but we didn’t play well in the third.”
When prompted to clarify on the call, Vigneault didn’t mince words.
“You ask the league that,” he quipped. “But they’re going to spin it anyway so they look alright, and that’s the way it always is.”
Fresh off the frustrating loss, Raanta appeared to be just as discouraged.
“When the pass was going to Aho, I heard the shot and at the same time my mask is on my nose. So it’s pretty tough to see the puck anymore after that,” the goalie told reporters.
“If I can’t be at the top of my crease, should I be on the goal line? What should I do?”
The Hurricanes would go on to score another power-play marker just a few minutes later, which served as the game-winner.
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