Boston Bruins Lose Two ‘Hit or Miss’ Video Reviews In Defeat

BOSTON – The Boston Bruins certainly could have used a break in the scoring column on Sunday afternoon.

They were shut out for the second straight game against the New Jersey Devils by a 1-0 score with Mackenzie Blackwood stopping 40 shots this time around at TD Garden, after Scott Wedgewood made 40 saves the last time around against the Black and Gold.

The rubber met the road with 1:10 to go in the game amidst a third period where the B’s outshot the Devils by a 17-5 margin, and it appeared they scored the game-tying goal when Patrice Bergeron banged home the scrambling rebound of a point shot. It was a play where David Krejci kept things alive by poking at the puck as Blackwood trapped it under his glove as bodies were flying all around the Jersey net.

The Devils challenged that the play was goaltender interference, and ultimately after a video review the NHL Situation Room found “that Boston’s David Krejci dislodged the covered puck from under the glove of New Jersey goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood prior to Patrice Bergeron’s goal.”

According to Rule 38.11, “The standard for overturning the call in the event of a “GOAL” call on the ice is that the NHL Situation Room, after reviewing any and all replays and consulting with the On-Ice Official(s), determines that the goal should have been disallowed due to “Interference on the Goalkeeper,” as described in Rules 69.1, 69.3 and 69.4.” It was a bang-bang play that was ruled a goal on the ice and there was pretty clearly debate from both sides as to whether Blackwood had adequately covered the puck with desperate traffic all around the New Jersey goaltender.

New Jersey challenges for goaltender interference and Bergeron’s tying goal is negated. pic.twitter.com/po5mDzjrtV

— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) March 29, 2021

“I think the goalie interference call could have gone either way. [The referee] signaled a goal and he was right in front of it,” said Boston Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy. “Typically, I thought it needed to be something egregious and I guess they deemed that egregious. I think the overhead does us no favors. I don’t know. What am I supposed to say on that? They make the call, and it didn’t go our way. We haven’t had a lot of luck with those calls. I think that’s the second one that’s come back on us against Jersey this year.

“Not a lot of puck luck for us. We really, really have to work to score goals and then when we do they come back [off the board]. They have to make that call, they did, and we move on. I think another night they might count it. That’s just the way it is. It’s hit or miss on those ones sometimes. People say they even out. I don’t know if I believe that, but we’ll see over the course of the year.”

The second play happened in the final seconds of the game as Nick Ritchie fired a shot from the net-front that looked like it may have crossed the goal line before Blackwood kicked it away from trouble. It was called “no goal” on the ice and the video didn’t show overwhelming evidence that the original “no goal” call should have been overturned.

GOAL OR NO GOAL?!?#NJDevils | #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/LsUuvvToVX

— NHL on NBC Sports (@NHLonNBCSports) March 29, 2021

Instead, it was a great save by Blackwood, and the Bruins felt like they just couldn’t catch a break while starved for even-strength offense these days.

“There are other years where you can outscore some of those calls, but we’re not in that position right now clearly,” said Cassidy. “Every goal matter to us, so it’s tough when those [disallowed goals] happen. But it was another solid effort in the third where we outplayed the other team and tried to generate second and third chances against this guy, but it didn’t work out.”

Instead of a feel-good moment at the end of the third period where they battled to secure at least a point, the Boston Bruins are left with the undeniable feeling that goals are becoming extremely hard to come by for a hockey club struggling for offense.