Phoenix’s first goal tonight, by Martin Hanzal in the second period, was upheld after a lengthy video review — at least five minutes — and the Kings clearly believed that Hanzal knocked in the puck with a high stick. The Coyotes went on to score a second goal less than a minute later and won the game 2-0. Mike Murphy, the NHL’s senior vice president of hockey operations, told FSN’s Jim Fox that there was no conclusive replay that would have overturned the goal, and specifically that the crew in Toronto never saw the puck conclusively hit Hanzel’s stick and that all of the on-ice officials agreed on the goal call. After the game, Kings general manager Dean Lombardi and coach Terry Murray vehemently disagreed.
Lombardi said, speaking of Murphy, “When the guy in Toronto making the decisions on the goals, in Ottawa and the one tonight, wanted the G.M.’s job in L.A. and was not happy about not getting it, you have to assume you are going to get those type of calls. However, we have put ourselves in a position where these calls have a monumental effect on our season, and we’re going to have to find a way out of it ourselves.”
Lombardi’s reference was to the Kings’ Nov. 22 game at Ottawa, when on-ice officials waved off Ryan Smyth’s potential game-tying goal, with three seconds remaining in the third period, and the NHL’s video-review crew in Toronto did not rule it a good goal. Murray also expressed his frustration after the game.
MURRAY: “I don’t know why we have video replay in the National Hockey League. That’s all I can say. If the replay is there for review of goals and non-goals… I don’t know. You’ve got a guy who gets credit for the goal. He’s 6-foot-6, and the stick is up above his head. Matt Greene is 6-3, and he’s batting the puck down his his hand beside his ear, and the net is four feet high. It doesn’t add up. It makes no sense. No sense. How does it get called on the ice a goal, first of all, and then how does the replay hold it up? I don’t know. I don’t have an answer.”
Question: Did you get an explanation from the (on-ice) referee?
MURRAY: “They don’t come near you.”
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