Detroit head coach Mike Babcock apparently wasn't picking up what the refs were seemingly putting down in last night's contest between the Red Wings and the New York Rangers.
Babcock was allegedly baffled by a number of calls by referees Steve Kozari and Tim Peel during the game, including a non-call for goalie interference on Derick Brassard's overtime game-winning goal, according to a report from Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo! Sports' Puck Daddy blog.
"Disallowed goal, right? Because of establishing in the crease? Well, anyone got a replay on those great phones you got on that goal tonight?" he asked after the Detroit Red Wings' 4-3 overtime loss to the New York Rangers.
On the game-winner, Rangers' forward Rick Nash was standing in front of goalie Jonas Gustavsson, seemingly inside the crease, when an initial shot was taken. By the time Brassard had potted the rebound, Nash was no longer in the crease.
Detroit had had a Henrik Zetterberg goal disallowed on almost the exact same type of play in an overtime contest against the Buffalo Sabres only three nights before. Johan Franzen's presence in the crease had caused the refs to nullify the goal, due to NHL Rule 69.3.
"The other night, we scored in overtime. Where did we score in overtime when Mule was in the crease?" Babcock asked.
The situations were different due to Nash having vacated the crease by the time the goal was scored, but Babcock didn't seem interested in accepting that explanation.
"That's gotta be the same," he said. "So I want the second point, or they shouldn't get a point. I don't know how it works."
On a night that saw Kozari and Peel make numerous officiating errors - an obvious dive by Gustavsson that resulted in a goalie interference penalty on New York's Dominic Moore, a high-stick by the Rangers' Rick Hagelin that drew blood from Detroit defenseman Danny DeKeyser's face but somehow went unnoticed, a penalty mix-up in the third that saw them assess penalties to the wrong players and the wrong teams, among a variety of others - the non-call on Nash may have actually been one of the few good ones.
Just don't waste your time trying to convince Babcock of that.
