Short Term Memory Loss in Montreal

We all knew it was going to be this way the moment the boos began to rain down in the Bell Center last night.  Late in the 3rd period against the Penguins Referee Chris Lee blew the play dead in front of the Pittsburgh net a sheer fraction of a second before Scott Gomez put it behind Marc-Andre Fleury.  Lee had lost sight of the puck and did what has has been instructed by the league to do… blow the whistle, and the goal was appropriately waived off by rule.  Hockey Fan House would have you believe that the Canadiens were badly done to and it cost them dearly.  I call it a draw.

Was it a goal?  Sure.  Should it have counted?  Definately. Here’s the play.

Now ok, lets say the Habs get that one.  It should have been 3-2 if it counted.  Instead they got that goal much earlier in the game on a terrible call made by the other official Paul Devorski on Penguins winger Ruslan Fedotenko.  Tenks was called at 12:49 mark of the second period for Delay of Game.  The penalty was called because the official believed that Feds knocked the net off of its moorings as the Habs mounted offensive zone pressure. That was not the case.

Fedotenko was in fact crosschecked into the net by Canadiens defenseman Josh Georges.  The call was the exact opposite of the way it should have been called (just like the no-goal on Gomez).  Instead of going to the Powerplay for Georges’ cross-check the Penguins found themselves trying to kill a terrible call.  It was on the ensuing powerplay that Roman Hamrlik would put in the 2nd goal on the night for Montreal.    Don’t agree that Tenks was fouled?  Watch the replay (3:43 mark)

Sure you got robbed at the end of the game, and decided that footwear tossing was the appropriate recourse.  Just remember who got robbed first.  If the Fedotenko play is called exactly the opposite and appropriately, the Habs don’t get that PP goal.  If Chris Lee is over turned you get a goal.  If that’s not a wash I don’t know what is.