The Boston Bruins came away with a 2-1 win over the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night, but it wasn’t without controversy.
With less than two minutes remaining in regulation, the Sharks were pressing for the tying goal when Bruins goalie Anton Khudobin and defenseman Zdeno Chara dislodged the net.
By rule, a penalty is supposed to be imposed on the Bruins, but because there was under two minutes remaining in regulation (no time to serve the whole penalty), San Jose should have been awarded a penalty shot with a chance to tie the game.
Here’s the exact wording of the rule via the NHL:
63.5 Penalty Shot - If the goal post is deliberately displaced by a goalkeeper or player during the course of a “breakaway,” a penalty shot will be awarded to the non-offending team, which shot shall be taken by the player last in possession of the puck. If by reason of insufficient time in the regular playing time or by reason of penalties already imposed, the minor penalty assessed to a player for deliberately displacing his own goal post cannot be served in its entirety within the regular playing time of the game or at any time in overtime, a penalty shot shall be awarded against the offending team.
Has the @NHL issued a statement on them missing this yet? pic.twitter.com/sDWn1CLdf5
— AJ (@aj_strong) October 27, 2017
The call was not made and the Bruins ended up winning the game. As you’d imagine, Sharks head coach Pete DeBoer wasn’t pleased with the non-call.
“It looked pretty clear,” DeBoer said after the game, per WEEI.com. “I didn’t get an explanation why. So, I didn’t get an explanation for a lot of things tonight. So it didn’t surprise me.”
Joey Alfieri is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @joeyalfieri.