Sabre Noise
Fansided

Big Surprise: Buffalo Sabres Get Boned By The NHL

By Richard Spalding

Feb 2, 2016; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Bruins left wing Brad Marchand (63) is congratulated by right wing Jimmy Hayes (11) and defenseman Zdeno Chara (33) after his goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs during the first period at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 2, 2016; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Bruins left wing Brad Marchand (63) is congratulated by right wing Jimmy Hayes (11) and defenseman Zdeno Chara (33) after his goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs during the first period at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Boston Bruins win in OT thanks to a call that should be able to be challenged.

This just in: the Buffalo Sabres get less respect in the NHL than Rodney Dangerfield got on his worst days.

By now, every Sabres fan knows what happened: tied 1-1 with the Boston Bruins in overtime, on the road, Buffalo players had to sit idly on the bench while Brad Marchand was awarded a penalty shot that he never should have taken.

See, for some inexplicable reason, the referee decided to call a penalty on Rasmus Ristolainen as Marchand was barrelling toward Sabres goaltender Robin Lehner – this despite the fact that Risto committed no penalty whatsoever on the play.

Still, I’m not a whiner – if you watched the play live, you might have called a penalty on Ristolainen, too, based on what you saw.  Hey: the sport moves quickly, and at first glance, Risto appeared to have earned a two-minute minor.

What made the problem go from bad to absolutely inexcusable, however, was that referee Brad Watson awarded Marchand a penalty because he somehow decided that Marchand had a clear breakaway, despite the fact that Risotlainen was battling Marchand the entire way, albeit out of position.

If you have not already reviewed the play in question over and over and over again, check out what happened:

You know the call is garbage when the NESN announcers question it!

For starters, as it turns out, Ristolainen did not even commit a penalty.  Marchand alertly knocked Risolainen’s stick out of his hands, leaving Risto with no option except to grab Marchand – but he missed, before finally giving the Bruins’ leading scorer a little two-handed shove from behind.

Again, I can see why a ref would blow the whistle on the play.  However, awarding a penalty shot as a result is ridiculous, especially since Buffalo Sabres forward Jamie McGinn actually had a clear breakaway in the third period and was tripped by Boston’s Dennis Seidenberg, who was so far behind McGinn that he had to dive in order to take McGinn’s feet out from under him.  McGinn was not awarded a penalty shot, so why the hell was Marchand?

Wait – because Buffalo is Buffalo, and the Boston Bruins are an original six team.

Next: Does Ryan O'Reilly Need To Become A 30 Goal Scorer?

With all of the video review technology available to the NHL, referees should be able to watch replays of the video in order to get the call right.  Awarding a penalty shot is a big deal, not the sort of thing to be taken lightly, or awarded half-assedly.  And if the NHL doesn’t want to take time to review it, why are coaches not allowed to challenge this sort of call?   Over-turning a goal based on offsides is acceptable, but challenging something as advantageous as a penalty shot is off-limits?

In the long run, I could care less about this loss – it’s not like Buffalo is fighting for a playoff spot, and they did earn consecutive points against a longtime rival, which is impressive given how much of a work-in-progress this team is.  Even so, the NHL is still allowing referees to make highly questionable calls, despite the fact that there are cameras that record the game from every angle imaginable.  It’s time to start making sure that the right calls get made, instead of establishing two different sets of rule for teams such as Boston and Buffalo.

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