Scott Wedgewood injured in pain on the ice. Refs don't blow the whistle. Buffalo scores

[ToDavid]

That's the issue, it's too subjective.

Not a perfect fix but something like, if the goose goes down with an injury they cannot continue the game, if they do it's either 2 minutes for embellishment or a goal if on a scoring chance. That allows the refs to blow the play down, and prevents goalies from faking an injury.

As for the skate blade issue. I don't care which way they go, just be consistent. Either it's never blown down or always blown down.

The problem with that is you have goalies getting taken out of games for minor injuries. Get stung by a puck in a bad spot and react? Ref blows the whistle and your night is done. Goalies get bumped and go down all the time, it's the nature of the position. It doesn't necessarily mean they're embellishing or that they're too injured to play. Sometimes you just need to shake it off.

Given how infrequently this is an issue, I don't think it's really something in need of a fix.

 

[Mike C]

Benson must have forgot to watch his biopic before the game. He must not have understood how Wedgwood had saved the Avs season through the power of friendship while he was celebrating his goal.

To be clear, I don't think it's strange how the Avs players reacted. Players are players, they'll react to anything. I'm more talking about people in this thread acting like Benson was breakdancing on Wedgewood's grave.

yeah man, when i did that on Paul Bryant's grave, it was beyond fun!!

 

[Yatzhee]

Buffalo had a two goal lead with like 2 minutes to go and you're really blaming the refs lmao? They had a 3 goal lead, a gimme goal , a called back goal that was 1 inch offside and they still lost the game.

Did the refs make you give up 2 goals with the goalie pulled?

Absolutely not he refs gave that game to the Avs. Momentum is a real thing, the 5 on 3 gave it to the avs.

 

[Auston Marlander]

The problem with that is you have goalies getting taken out of games for minor injuries. Get stung by a puck in a bad spot and react? Ref blows the whistle and your night is done. Goalies get bumped and go down all the time, it's the nature of the position. It doesn't necessarily mean they're embellishing or that they're too injured to play. Sometimes you just need to shake it off.

Given how infrequently this is an issue, I don't think it's really something in need of a fix.

They can come back in. If a player is hurt to the point the play is stopped they should have to leave the ice.

Like I said I don't have the full answer, but at first thought its a hell of a lot better than what we have now.

 

[missionAvs]

If you call this goal off, you can expect goalies to go down all the time under any contact. It's unfortunate for the defence, but that's what happens when you throw players into your own goalie.

I don't think that's what most people are arguing against. The goal being scored was actually a good call. The issue here is that the play should have been whistled dead before it was even in the net. The puck was in the corner and Wedgewood was already in the net injured.

 

[Beerz]

In that circumstance, what was the benefit of pretending to be injured? The puck was in the corner and the goalie was on his back in the net. Never seen a goalie fake an injury when the puck is in a non-threatening position.

You’re welcome to disagree, but we have the benefit of hindsight to clearly see that the player wasn’t able to return to the game. This shows that the ref made the wrong judgement call on the play.

We had same thing happen to us earlier in year when one of our dmen knocked opposing player into UPL .. UPL was hurt or at least portraying himself to be hurt .. not minding the net and puck goes to point and put in our net.

 

[Perratrooper]

You err on this occasion and people will take the piss with it forever. Goalies will always know they can go down and get away with it, and the attack stops.

The issue is the consistency with the calls. When a non-injured player in the same game receives a whistle due to a potential injury, why wouldn’t the same whistle apply in this circumstance. Either call it by possession or call it consistently based on an injury basis and remove the judgement factor.

On a judgement call fans and officials will see it differently. I personally view this circumstance as a larger threat for increased risk of injury than the Rantanen hit on Dahlin.

 

[Beerz]

Benson technically did nothing wrong, but that whole sequence was poor sportsmanship. Glad he got to stat pad.

Every single player in the league would of done what Benson did... every single one

 

[Perratrooper]

We had same thing happen to us earlier in year when one of our dmen knocked opposing player into UPL .. UPL was hurt or at least portraying himself to be hurt .. not minding the net and puck goes to point and put in our net.

Was it almost instantaneous or was there a development of the play that led to the goal? I would argue if there’s an injury, regardless of who created that injury, if there’s play is developing and there’s a potentially injured player the play should be blown dead. I personally think goalies should be treated more like quarterbacks where the side of protection is increased versus other positions.

If you have a clip I’d love to take a look at it.

Ultimately I just want consistency with the calls when it comes to player safety.

 

[Beerz]

The issue is the consistency with the calls. When a non-injured player in the same game receives a whistle due to a potential injury, why wouldn’t the same whistle apply in this circumstance. Either call it by possession or call it consistently based on an injury basis and remove the judgement factor.

On a judgement call fans and officials will see it differently. I personally view this circumstance as a larger threat for increased risk of injury than the Rantanen hit on Dahlin.

Ratanen got his hands/ arms up on Dahlins head/face ... it wasn't dirty or even a penalty but it happened and Dahlin reacted how most do when getting hit in face/head .. the play is completely different. A possible head injury they will always be more cautious.. plus it happened like in neutral zone or pretty darn close and Byrum touches puck.

Was it almost instantaneous or was there a development of the play that led to the goal? I would argue if there’s an injury, regardless of who created that injury, if there’s play is developing and there’s a potentially injured player the play should be blown dead. I personally think goalies should be treated more like quarterbacks where the side of protection is increased versus other positions.

If you have a clip I’d love to take a look at it.

Ultimately I just want consistency with the calls when it comes to player safety.

No was not instantaneous from what I remember.

Id love a clip too but unfortunately im banned on X and they only allow you to look at so much while you are suspended haha

 

[Evergreen]

I think the refs made the right call here. An Avs player stupidly pushed Benson into Wedgewood. The Avs never recovered the puck, Benson received it, and scored. Why should a team that's trapped in its own zone benefit from pushing an opposing player into their own goalie by drawing a whistle and stopping a scoring opportunity?

 

[chet1926]

It's absurd that the NHL claims that they are about player safety but won't blow a play dead when there is a clearly injured goalie in laying in the crease who has absolutely no ability to protect himself.

Seems really safe to let a defenseless player have pucks fired on him. Honestly Wedgewood is lucky that the play played out the way it did. Could have ended up much worse.

If the roles were reversed and the Buffalo goalie was down and out due to injury and the Avs had the puck with a chance to score, I'd still want the refs to blow the play dead. It's the right thing for the injured players safety.

 

[PAZ]

Every single player in the league would of done what Benson did... every single one

Majority yes, but not every single one. The Canucks were setup on the PP last year and a PKer got hit with a puck (I believe it was in the head/neck) and was clearly injured. Pettersson had the puck and started yelling at the refs to stop play instead of continuing play.

And most wouldn't have celebrated like they just scored a huge goal.

 

[chet1926]

I think the refs made the right call here. An Avs player stupidly pushed Benson into Wedgewood. The Avs never recovered the puck, Benson received it, and scored. Why should a team that's trapped in its own zone benefit from pushing an opposing player into their own goalie by drawing a whistle and stopping a scoring opportunity?

It's technically the right call. But it's a safety issue, a defenseless goalie should not be subjected to shots on goals they could injure him further.

How the player got hurt is irrelevant, if goalie is hurt in the crease, the play should be blown dead immediately. It's about safety.

 

[MOGlLNY]

He's a 19 year old kid who put in what he thought was an important goal. I don't think he was thinking about the degree of injury, it happened quick and he was playing to the whistle. Painting him as a villain is insane lol.

Nobody wants to see Wedgewood injured but give it a rest on the celebration complaint.

 

[Avsfan1921]

Absolutely not he refs gave that game to the Avs. Momentum is a real thing, the 5 on 3 gave it to the avs.

Imagine blaming the refs for a loss when the goal that extended you’re team a multi goal lead was directly effected by the refs on a play that would be blown down 9 out of 10 times lol.

I’d say not killing the 5 on 3 gave it to the Avs, or more specifically tuch on his horrendous attempt at a back check on the DMAN Toews breakaway in overtime, after he was stripped of the puck like a peewee player.

 

[thefutures]

Man even their goalie dives smh

 

[Beerz]

Majority yes, but not every single one. The Canucks were setup on the PP last year and a PKer got hit with a puck (I believe it was in the head/neck) and was clearly injured. Pettersson had the puck and started yelling at the refs to stop play instead of continuing play.

And most wouldn't have celebrated like they just scored a huge goal.

Yeah.. most players stop play when they see a player hit in face/head .. that is deadly.
And Benson didn't celebrate like he scored a huge goal.. it was pretty pedestrian

 

[PepsiCenterMagic]

Yes, it absolutely makes sense. The goal is preventative injury or stopping play if the danger/risk is too high. A goalie without a mask on is at a high danger of getting hurt. Wedgewood IS HURT, but there is not a major danger to Wedgewood getting more hurt in this situation.

What do you not get? Wedgewood was not in major risk for further injury... how specifically is Wedgewood likely to get more hurt than any other moment if the Ref, you posted the shot, he is right there looking. What action is likely to cause further injury? The Ref see him, it's not like its a head injury/bleeding injury that need immediate medical support. There's no way his injury is getting worse 4 seconds later than it is as he is looking. He can't change time and stop the injury.

They blew dead the play for Dahlin immediately when they thought he was hurt. The problem is consistency. You call the one, you call the other

Imagine blaming the refs for a loss when the goal that extended you’re team a multi goal lead was directly effected by the refs on a play that would be blown down 9 out of 10 times lol.

I’d say not killing the 5 on 3 gave it to the Avs, or more specifically tuch on his horrendous attempt at a back check on the DMAN Toews breakaway in overtime, after he was stripped of the puck like a peewee player.

Yep. Buffalo had the game given to them on the platter, and have no one but themselves to blame for losing.

 

[PAZ]

Yeah.. most players stop play when they see a player hit in face/head .. that is deadly.
And Benson didn't celebrate like he scored a huge goal.. it was pretty pedestrian

I mean most wouldn't, hell even the refs don't.

We saw it yesterday with Ritchie getting nailed in the face with the puck in the WJC and the play continued. Players either will have sportsmanship and tell the refs to stop play when they see an injured player or they won't. It's pretty black and white.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

Unfortunate play but it happened fast and with the histrionics of most goalies any time they get touched, it's understandable the ref didn't blow the whistle right away.

This time it turns out the goalie was legitimately injured. I hope Wedgewoods ok.

Though Benson probably should've reigned in his goal celebration a bit.

 

[ArGarBarGar]

I’m confident that in flipped scenarios I would feel it should be a goal called back for Colorado.

Perception of bias does not bias make.

 

[TheNumber4]

Like many rules and regulations, they end up bad for most because they have to protect against the assholes.

Very true. Good point.

 

[BlueOil]

They blew dead the play for Dahlin immediately when they thought he was hurt. The problem is consistency. You call the one, you call the other

they were consistent. they blew the play dead for dahlin because byram touched the puck right after. avs needed to get possession to get a stoppage for wedgewood.

 

[Konnan511]

Maybe don't hit opposing players into your goalie? Sucks for Wedgewood, he's the biggest victim here.