St. Louis Blues are the latest victim of the NHL’s horrid officiating

Yet another amazing Stanley Cup Playoff game has been tarnished by controversy over the rules. The St. Louis Blues are the latest victim.

Another day, another controversy over the beyond-confusing rules of the NHL. The NHL just keeps finding new ways to prove its own incompetence, and now yet another great playoff game has been tarnished.

The St. Louis Blues and San Jose Sharks put on a spectacle on Wednesday in Game 3 of the Western Conference Final. After falling behind 2-0 and 3-1, the Blues rallied back to take a 4-3 lead before the second period was out. The Sharks would rally to tie the game at 4-4 with less than a minute to go in regulation on Logan Couture’s 14th goal of these playoffs, treating fans to the first overtime of the Conference Finals.

However, it was in that overtime where the rest of the game might as well have taken a back seat, because the only thing anybody will remember is the controversy surrounding the eventual game-winning goal for the Sharks.

At 5:23 of the first overtime, Timo Meier batted an airborne puck toward center ice with his glove, getting the puck through to Gustav Nyquist who fed it to Erik Karlsson for a shot that beat Blues goalie Jordan Binnington.

One major problem here: You can’t pass a teammate the puck with any part of your hand, and the play should’ve been blown dead when Nyquist touched the puck. The officials missed it and as a result, the play could not be reviewed, giving the Sharks a 5-4 overtime win and a 2-1 lead in the series.

The Blues were justifiably enraged over the call. Binnington was immediately calling for a hand pass as soon as the goal went in, and slammed his stick in frustration at the no call. Brayden Schenn broke his stick on the end boards as the officials skated off the ice before the trash that began littering the rink from the berserk fans at Enterprise Center hit them.

“I really didn’t get an explanation other than, I guess, there’s a different set of rules for two different teams, so I’m sure they’ll lose some sleep tonight after looking at it,” said Blues captain Alex Pietrangelo.

According to NHL Rule 67.1, “A player shall be permitted to stop or ‘bat’ a puck in the air with his open hand, or push it along the ice with his hand, and the play shall not be stopped unless, in the opinion of the Referee, he has deliberately directed the puck to a teammate in any zone other than the defending zone, in which case the play shall be stopped and  a face-off conducted.”

In an official statement, the NHL said: “Plays of this nature are not reviewable. A hand pass that goes into the net can be reviewed, but a hand pass between teammates cannot be reviewed.”

What? You can’t review to see if a player broke a rule that in turn lead to a goal? You can review if a player’s skate was offside by mere centimeters well before a goal, but you can’t review the clear cut rule stating that you can’t pass the puck to a teammate with your hands? How is that different than knocking a puck in with a high stick? How does it make sense to only enforce some of the rules when it comes to goals?

A review like this would at most take two minutes. It is clear as day that Meier batted the puck with his glove. It’s not a matter of “angles” or “interpretation” like it is with goalie interference or offsides reviews. It’s a clearly stated rule that was broken in broad daylight that led to a goal.

Now this is only kind of a slight against the officials on the ice. They can’t review a hand pass and call back a goal, but you have to be able to see that and call it as it happens. Otherwise what’s the point? It’s an overtime game in the Western Conference Final, everybody has to be on top of their game, especially the officials.

Yes the officials are human, but that’s exactly the problem, there has to be a system in place to correct the errors they will inevitably make. Sure it will slow down games with more reviews, but these calls have to be gotten right, especially at this point of the year. Who cares if a game takes five minutes longer?

The argument made for the call is that the puck glanced off Jay Bouwmeester after the hand pass from Meier before Nyquist touched the puck, but that doesn’t matter. An opposing player touching the puck does not negate a hand pass call. A playoff game cannot end like that.

For the Sharks, it’s another controversial win that they can add to their collection these playoffs. Not to take away the great things they’ve done up to this point, but it’s near impossible to deny the amount of breaks they’ve gotten so far this postseason.

The five minute major against the Vegas Golden Knights that led to the Sharks rallying from down 3-0 in Game 7 was a bad call, and the Golden Knights received an apology from the league for it. Yes, Joe Pavelski was seriously injured on the play, but due to the awkward landing on the hit, not malicious intent on Cody Eakin’s behalf.

Next series, the Colorado Avalanche had a game-tying goal from Colin Wilson taken away in Game 7, after it was determined that Gabriel Landeskog was offside when going for a line change. The original call on the ice was a good goal, but apparently the officials felt there was enough evidence to overturn the call, even though it was hard to tell if Landeskog’s foot was on the blue line.

Nobody on the Sharks feels bad about any of it, and why should they? It’s the officials job to enforce the rules. The Sharks are just doing their job.

“We weren’t playing handball, were we?” Karlsson said when asked about the hand pass. “We were playing hockey. We deserved to win this game. At the end of the day, I don’t think either team drew the shorter stick on any of the calls. Fair game.”

The final salt in the wound about this controversy? Timo Meier got credited with a secondary assist on the goal. Confirming beyond a reasonable doubt that the play was in fact reviewed and determined that Meier did indeed touch the puck, and was given an assist on a hand pass that allegedly never happened.

Regardless, what’s done is done. The Sharks won the game and lead the series 2-1. Game 4 will take place on May 17 at 8 p.m. ET at Enterprise Center in St. Louis. The Blues will attempt to get even at 2-2 on home ice, while the Sharks will go for a 3-1 stranglehold on the series before going back home for Game 5.