The Pittsburgh Penguins had multiple goals get taken off the board against the Nashville Predators.
PITTSBURGH – With their season on the line, the Pittsburgh Penguins played arguably one of their best games of the year. In the final home contest of 2023-24, the Penguins had a solid first period against the Nashville Predators. The Penguins beat Predators' goalie Juuse Saros four times in over 20 shots on goal in just the first period.
One issue, however, was that the Penguins finished the period only up 2-0. The Penguins had a pair of goals called back thanks to challenges from the Predators coaching staff. Both recalled goals were determined to be goalie interference.
The first happened against Michael Bunting after he made a great move between the legs during the power play. Not much later, Lars Eller was guilty of a similar fault on a shot from Kris Letang.
On the first goalie interference situation, the Penguins thought Bunting had scored a great goal from his usual spot in the goal crease. However, officials determined that Bunting inadvertently stepping on Saros’ stick was enough to warrant no goal on the play.
When Letang’s goal was called back, it was a similar situation. Eller was screening Saros and was close enough to block Saros’ stick from fully getting into position to make a play on the puck. Saros called for a review the moment he was scored on.
While the Penguins walked away with a 4-2 win, they believed the score should have been higher. Head coach Mike Sullivan has made his thoughts on goalie interference known before, and he had no plans of making further discussions.
“I thought the first one was a good call,” Sullivan said. “I think the second one is anybody’s guess. We can sit here all day long and debate it.”
In that second instance, before Eller made contact with Saros’ stick, Saros appeared to initiate contact. Saros can be seen reaching to give Eller a shove just before Letang’s shot beats him.
“It is what it is,” Sullivan said.
“It would have been nice to have a three-goal lead instead of two,” Sidney Crosby said.
The debate of what exactly defines goalie interference will rage on, and no one will have a clear answer. Even from a goalie’s perspective, it’s tough to navigate.
“I don’t want to get into that,” Alex Nedeljkovic said. “We were in the blue paint… If there’s contact made, no matter how much or how little, I guess, as long as it’s consistent. It’s kind of a grey area.”
Thankfully, the Penguins fought through the tough first period to keep their playoff hopes alive.
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