Spent the night in the NHL's Situation Room, wanting to see the process before the playoffs. It was renovated earlier this year. It's real and it's spectacular.
Of course, something crazy happened.
Here’s what I saw during the Chicago/Montreal shootout:
The Situation Room spotter watching that game was the first to realize Frank Nazar scored. He let everyone else in the room know, and he’s on a headset to both the penalty box and the goal judge in the building. (The goal judge is the one with access to the arena horn.)
The on-ice officials didn’t see the puck lodged in the net and went to get a new one. I’m not sure what happened in the building, but Patrik Laine started his approach before everyone could be notified.
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If I was a television viewer, a fan in the building or Brendan Gallagher of the Montreal Canadiens, I’d think the notification came late. But, having seen it in-person, the notification came on-time and maybe in-arena officials didn’t want to stop Laine after he’d begun his approach. (That’s me wondering, not anything stated here.)
It’s frustrating for the Canadiens — and their fans — battling to make the playoffs. Nazar definitely scored and it was verified, but the message didn’t reach everyone as quickly as it needed to.
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