Goaltending interference

[Three On Zero]

You can make an argument that Geekie was pushed into the goalie by a Tampa player, although it’s a pretty thin argument

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

I can see how in the chaos in the crease the refs might miss it. But looking at the replay it's insane that goal was allowed to stand. The goalie clearly gets pitchforked into the net.

NHL gonna NHL I guess.

 

[TGWL]

There is one thing that I can't understand. Geekie is staring at the puck that's sitting there in the crease, but instead of trying to get his stick on the puck he decides to push the goalie's pad? I think it's more likely he lost his balance, not without help from everybody fighting around him. The question is, would it be interference if indeed the push is just him leaning on his stick trying not to fall?

The shove comes after the goalie is already being pushed with the stick. Even if he accidentally lost his balance. It's interference.

 

[snag]

There is a series of events here and what i take from it is: your job is to keep the puck away from your goalie in the first place so when you fail at your job don't pile on your goalie and let him do HIS job

 

[Eyeseeing]

This.

It's the only logical explanation. Geekie sort of looks like he went for the puck, but missed and ended up pushing Hellebuyck into the net.

Goaltender interference

 

[Johnnucleo]

I can see how in the chaos in the crease the refs might miss it. But looking at the replay it's insane that goal was allowed to stand. The goalie clearly gets pitchforked into the net.

NHL gonna NHL I guess.

exactly this. i dont have any issue with the on ice officials calling it a goal. But to have the control centre review it (and so quickly I might add), and uphold it is the baffling part

 

[Deno]

No one knows what goalie interference is. Mostly because the officials aren't consistent with their ruling.

So are you saying the refs are consistently inconsistent?

 

[Johnnucleo]

Goaltender interference

this is what they discussed on the 32 thoughts podcast, that likely the league assumed Geekie was going for the puck which actually is NOT goaltender interference. A player is allowed to stab at the puck with their stick the way Geekie was, but the problem that Friedman had was that puck was actually nowhere near the area he was stabbing at. it was behind him, lol.

Just to clarify that, in that if the puck was there and Geekie was swatting at it, its actually not interference. I digress...

 

[Ossific]

this is what they discussed on the 32 thoughts podcast, that likely the league assumed Geekie was going for the puck which actually is NOT goaltender interference. A player is allowed to stab at the puck with their stick the way Geekie was, but the problem that Friedman had was that puck was actually nowhere near the area he was stabbing at. it was behind him, lol.

Just to clarify that, in that if the puck was there and Geekie was swatting at it, its actually not interference. I digress...

But even if the puck was in his pads, if Geekie pushed the pad with puck in, the goal still would not have counted.

 

[SladeWilson23]

Goaltender interference

The puck being in the crease is not meaningless.

 

[GreatSaveEssensa]

The puck being in the crease is not meaningless.

So according to your logic it is fair game to pitchfork a goalie into the net, while not even attempting to play the puck, leaving the net wide open as long as the puck is near the crease?

 

[Three On Zero]

The best thing the NHL should do in these situations is put out an explanation about why the call was made.

 

[Johnnucleo]

But even if the puck was in his pads, if Geekie pushed the pad with puck in, the goal still would not have counted.

I think, as did Friedge, that it would have

 

[Thechozen1]

Both Elliotte and Kyle on 32 Thoughts, agreed it was clear Goalie Interference and were as perplexed as everyone else that it stood. The key is that Geekie was pushing Hellebuyck's pad in with his stick while NOT attempting to play the puck (it was behind him). If he was swatting at the puck or even trying to dig it out from under his pad, its fine, but the fact that the puck was behind him is interference.

For the record, the it was called a goal on ice, and the situation room in Toronto confirmed it which is the part that is perplexing. Like I get it, on ice, things happen fast, and refs can't always get it right, but when you have Toronto also confirming it? Very odd. Its almost as if they ignored the stick into the pad, and were only analyzing whether Morrissey pushed Geekie into the goalie.

Either way, this is one of those moments where I'd love to hear from officials (either on ice ones or Toronto) after the game to explain their decision.

Crappy BS decisions like that better not cost a team the Stanley cup. That would be utterly disgraceful.

 

[Anglesmith]

Check the video @kylbaz posted above, with several angles. It’s very clear that Geekie was pushing the goalie toward the net well before Morrissey made contact with him.

The task is to adopt the perspective of the league justifying the decision, so challenge accepted.

It's actually untrue that Geekie was untouched for the stick push. We can see that he's got a lot of weight on his stick for balance at the time, and the start of the pushing motion coincides with one Tampa player falling into his leg and Morrissey giving him an initial shove in the letters (not the main contact you're talking about). We can argue that the stick push was an inadvertent result of losing balance, and the loss of balance was at least arguably the fault of the defending team.

 

[SladeWilson23]

So according to your logic it is fair game to pitchfork a goalie into the net, while not even attempting to play the puck, leaving the net wide open as long as the puck is near the crease?

I never said anything like that. I was simply pointing out the logic of the refs. The logic the refs used was because the puck was in the crease, is what they were looking at. Also it looks like Geekie could have been pushed.

 

[theVladiator]

The shove comes after the goalie is already being pushed with the stick. Even if he accidentally lost his balance. It's interference.

I wasn't wondering about him losing his balance on his own accord. NHL players rarely do that. It's more of a question if it was from a contact with a Jets player (before Morrissey's "crosscheck"), or his own teammate. The OP video is pretty terrible, hard to tell much from it imo.

 

[MardyBum]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1853574298780176665

 

[tarheelhockey]

The task is to adopt the perspective of the league justifying the decision, so challenge accepted.

It's actually untrue that Geekie was untouched for the stick push. We can see that he's got a lot of weight on his stick for balance at the time, and the start of the pushing motion coincides with one Tampa player falling into his leg and Morrissey giving him an initial shove in the letters (not the main contact you're talking about). We can argue that the stick push was an inadvertent result of losing balance, and the loss of balance was at least arguably the fault of the defending team.

Morrissey was still in his wind-up for the first shove when the stick-push began. You can see Hellebuyck’s pad start sliding toward the goal line while Morrissey is still well clear of contact.

Going into league-lawyer mode, the only defense for this call would be that DiMelo caused Geekie to lose his balance and shift all his weight onto his stick — effectively, blaming DiMelo for the snowplowing action. To me, that interpretation gives way too much leeway to an attacking player who has already crashed into the crease and put his stick directly into the goalie while the goalie is trying to gather a loose puck. It’s effectively giving the attacker an incentive to perch in front of the goalie and dare anyone to touch him, so he can just topple forward and take the goalie with him.

 

[Anglesmith]

Morrissey was still in his wind-up for the first shove when the stick-push began. You can see Hellebuyck’s pad start sliding toward the goal line while Morrissey is still well clear of contact.

Going into league-lawyer mode, the only defense for this call would be that DiMelo caused Geekie to lose his balance and shift all his weight onto his stick — effectively, blaming DiMelo for the snowplowing action. To me, that interpretation gives way too much leeway to an attacking player who has already crashed into the crease and put his stick directly into the goalie while the goalie is trying to gather a loose puck. It’s effectively giving the attacker an incentive to perch in front of the goalie and dare anyone to touch him, so he can just topple forward and take the goalie with him.

We cannot completely discount that the stick under the pad tickled Hellebuyck's leg, causing him to instinctively pull his leg back, dragging poor Geekie's stick with it.