Photo credit: NHL

We witnessed an unexpected ending last night between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Montreal Canadiens, during Ivan Demidov’s debut.

As we mentioned earlier this morning, the NHL rulebook is clear.

But that’s not all.

The biggest issue with what happened last night isn’t so much the fact that the goal should never have counted (because it clearly was a goal), but that the referees completely botched their job.

The consequences are significant, as it could have actually influenced Martin St-Louis’ decision, and yes, it could have changed a lot of things.

An unacceptable act by the referees last night at the Bell Centre

What most experts are criticizing today, not just from Montreal, but from all over the NHL, is the fact that the referees simply let Patrik Laine take his shot, without even trying to find the puck from the previous sequence.

It’s embarrassing.

“How does NHL let another player for Habs shoot before video review says previous shot by Blackhawks was a goal? Crazy.

Still can’t understand how when refs couldn’t find the puck after Frank Nazar’s first shootout attempt for Blackhawks was ruled no goal that they didn’t look in the net for it or have an immediate video review. Seems pretty simple.

Video review in NHL has really become an embarrassment. You’d think when refs couldn’t find puck in Montembeault’s pads they would have immediately looked in net for it or had a video review before allowing another Habs player to shoot.”

– Stu Cowan

It’s unacceptable.

“So the refs never found the puck and just put a new one into play? What happened?”

– Ryan Whitney

An embarrassing sequence for Gary Bettman and the NHL

There have been many reactions and posts about this situation.

I hope these referees will be forced to explain their actions after what happened last night at the Bell Centre.