Hurricanes coach calls NHL officiating a ‘joke’ after Game 1 controversy against Bruins
"It makes no sense."
It didn’t take long for the Bruins-Hurricanes series to reach a playoff hockey level of intensity, both on the ice and in the postgame comments.
After the Bruins emerged with a 3-2 overtime win in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference first-round series, Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour had strong words about what he perceived as poor communication and officiating from the game’s referees.
“This is why the league’s a joke, in my opinion, on these things,” Brind’Amour told News & Observer reporter Luke DeCock. “That one is a crime scene.”
Brind’Amour’s frustration stemmed from the aftermath of a sequence in the second period on Wednesday that ended with Charlie Coyle scoring the Bruins’ second goal of the game. After the goal, Brind’Amour challenged the call, contending that Boston had made an illegal hand pass.
Here’s the goal, and replays showing the build up to it:
The challenged call was upheld, as the original call was that Hurricanes goalie Petr Mrazek had controlled the puck, therefore negating Boston’s hand pass by rule.
Brind’Amour was upset at how information was conveyed — or, in his view, wasn’t conveyed — as he decided on how to proceed with his challenge.
Had Brind’Amour known that the initial ruling was that Mrazek had controlled the puck, he would have made a different challenge on the goal, as it would have been goalie interference.
“They came to me, and I said, ‘If he has possession of it, then it’s goalie interference. If he doesn’t have possession, then it’s a hand pass. It’s one of the two. I don’t know what you’re calling on the ice,'” Brind’Amour told DeCock. “All he has to do is tell me. ‘We’re calling it non-possession [by Mrazek],’ then we’re challenging a glove-hand pass. If it’s possession, then goaltender interference. I said, ‘Tell me the call on the ice.’ They wouldn’t do it when I say, ‘What is the call?’ So I had to flip a coin.”
Hours after the game, Brind’Amour was fined $25,000 for his pointed postgame remarks. On Thursday, he said he was “moving on” from the incident.
Having lost the call, Brind’Amour watched as his team ultimately lost the game to Patrice Bergeron’s overtime goal. He conceded Boston was better in the game, but wondered if the outcome might’ve been different had he been given the full account.
“It makes no sense,” Brind’Amour concluded. “I know we weren’t the better team, but if that goal doesn’t go in, do we win that game? I don’t know.”
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