Goaltender interference is somewhat of a frustrating enigma in the NHL. Perhaps no group of people felt that frustration more than the crowd at TD Garden on Sunday night.
The Boston Bruins, down 2-1 in the series, were playing with a one-goal lead in the third period of Game 4 and goaltender Jeremy Swayman seemed in the midst of a redemption game. Then, 3:41 into the final frame, Boston's public enemy No. 1 Sam Bennett tapped in a power-play goal to tie the game.
Bruins coach Jim Montgomery, upon seeing the replay, elected to challenge for goaltender interference as it appeared that Bennett pushed Bruins' Charlie Coyle into Swayman, therefore preventing him from making the save.
Referees Frederick L'Ecuyer and Francis Charron, however, did not believe Bennett's shove rose to the level of goaltender interference and confirmed the goal to be good, much to the chagrin of Bruins fans.
In a statement, the NHL Situation Room declared that the play "did not prevent Swayman from playing his position in the crease prior to Bennett's goal."
Rule 69 in the NHL rulebook dictates that "if a defending player is pushed, shoved or fouled by an attacking player so as to cause the defending player to come in contact with his own goalkeeper, such contact shall be deemed contact initiated by the attacking player for the purposes of this rule, and if necessary a penalty assessed to the attacking player and if a goal is scored it would be disallowed."
The Bruins were assessed a two-minute bench minor penalty for delay of game following the unsuccessful challenge.
Though the Panthers did not score on that power play, captain Aleksander Barkov scored the game-winning goal just a few minutes later.
“Toronto ruled that it was a good goal and that the play didn’t interfere with the goal. That’s explanation we got," Montgomery said to reporters after the game. "We thought Coyle was on top of our goalie and if Coyle was able to stand his ground, he would’ve cleared the puck.”
Swayman echoed his coach's words.
"Again, I just want to stick to facts and the fact is that my own player was pushed into me by theirs and I couldn't play my position."
Game 5 shifts now to South Florida, where the Panthers have the opportunity to close out the series on home ice.
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