The Columbus reaction

After a game like last night it is always fun to check out what the other team’s newspaper writes up on the game, and here’s how the Columbus Dispatch described last night’s events:

The Blue Jackets have learned to expect the worst whenever a questionable call is sent to the NHL review room in Toronto.

But the call on Manny Malhotra’s goal 13 seconds into overtime last night didn’t appear questionable in the least. That it was reviewed by Toronto was surprising. That it was disallowed after a lengthy review—the goal was deemed to have been scored with a “distinct kicking motion”—was considered inconceivable, even to the Dallas Stars.

The Stars won 6-5 in a shootout in front of 16,128 in the American Airlines Arena, a wild ending to a wild game that was dotted with goals, fights, cheap shots, premature celebrations and horrible goaltending.

Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock was stunned and angry after the game.

“We won the hockey game,” Hitchcock said. “We won the hockey game. It was a good goal. I don’t care what anybody says, we won the hockey game.

“We outplayed them They can put up whatever score they want down there, they can put up whatever score they want in the National Hockey League. We won the hockey game.

“That player did not kick it. All he tried to do was get out of the way of the goaltender.”

The rest of the story is here.

Now I still think that under league rules it is no goal. There was a clarification that was sent out last season about goals off the skate and under the guidelines set down last night’s goal was a no-no, Malhotra put the puck into the net with a kicking motion. His intent doesn’t matter. What matters is that there was a kicking motion that put the puck into the net. Without that kicking motion the puck never gets past Turco. But the fact is that so-called pendulum motion is what put the puck into the net and that’s why it was disallowed.

I blogged about the clarification of the kicking rule during last year’s playoffs when the Brenden Morrow goal was disallowed in the San Jose series.

Here’s some crummy YouTube video of last night’s controversial goal.

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