Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

NHL investigating clock hiccup that fleeced Blue Jackets

doughty point 3

James

The NHL has launched an investigation into a scoreboard malfunction (if you believe that’s what it was) last night in Los Angeles that allowed the Kings to score the game-winning goal versus the Blue Jackets when time should’ve already expired.

Colin Campbell, the league’s senior VP of hockey operations, spoke with the Globe and Mail this morning to explain how the NHL’s video room could’ve missed the temporarily stalled clock that gave the home team the extra second it needed to put the puck in the net.

“We didn’t even look to go back and say ‘OK, did something happen (with the clock)?“’ Campbell said. “When it crosses the line (and) you review it, you back the puck out and you see what the clock was. And the clock was 0.4 (seconds).

“And then after the game, minutes after the game, we see (it and say) ‘Holy cow.“’

At the very least, you can’t accuse Campbell of ducking the truth when he uses the phrase, “Holy cow.” Pretty sure that it’s not in the PR bible.

The Globe says it’s not clear if the result of the game will stand. However, it’s hard to imagine how the NHL could take a point away from the Kings when L.A. could’ve still won in overtime or a shootout.

The two teams meet once more this season, in Columbus on March 8. Could the league make them play an overtime session? And if it did, would it then be the Kings who end up getting screwed? In this case, out of a home-ice advantage.

Update: Campbell told ESPN.com that whatever the investigation turns up, the result will stand.

Related: Columbus GM calls clock malfunction an “amazing coincidence”