What can I say? Between the Sabres and the Saint Louis Blues, there was nothing better than that blue and gold color scheme for me growing up.
I was a fan of the Sabres during the days of Dominik Hasek, Pat LaFontaine, Alexander Mogilny, Dale Hawerchuk, Rob Ray, (Cleveland native) Brian Holzinger, and others. I even bought the “Buffalo head” black jersey just to piss off my boss when the Sabres played the Penguins in the 2001 Eastern Conference Semifinals, being that he was a Pittsburgh native. (I was stuck on trash duty for the better part of a week after the Sabres lost game seven.) Over the years, my focus shifted more towards the New York Islanders and the Blues.
Thursday night, I watched my first Sabres game on MSG+ Network, since I became a NHL Gamecenter subscriber six years ago. The Sabres, winners of three straight contests (all in overtime mind you), were in Dallas to play the Stars. The Sabres entered the contest in a four-way tie for the worst record in the Eastern Conference with 49 points. However, with the parody in the East this season, Buffalo was a mere five points out of the second wild card playoff spot.
The table was set...the Tampa Bay Lightning, New Jersey Devils, Carolina Hurricanes, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Detroit Red Wings all lost their contests last night--the league’s final night of games before this weekend’s All Star break in Los Angeles. The Sabres jumped out to a 1-0 lead on the strength of a Evander Kane tally just 3:44 into the first period. Matt Moulson would make it 2-0 Sabres about six minutes later, before Dallas got on the board 90 seconds later, courtesy of Patrick Sharp.
Dallas outscored Buffalo 3-1 in the second period, and took a 4-3 lead into the final 20 minutes. The Sabres had been dominated in the shot category, and were 5-16-2 when trailing after two periods on the season. Coming back on Dallas, who was 14-0-4 when leading after two periods, seemed like a daunting task for Dan Bylsma’s squad.
With seconds under 9:00 left in regulation, Buffalo center Sam Reinhart took a backhand shot from in tight on Stars’ goaltender Kari Lehtonen. Lehtonen made the save, and kept the lead at one.
...So we thought.
The replay showed Niemi made the save in his lower midsection, while falling to the ice in a horizontal fetal position. The majority of Niemi’s body had crossed the goal line, immediately prompting Bylsma to challenge the call on the ice. The officials took an extensive review, before upholding their call of no goal. However, this was the spark Buffalo was looking for. The two goals the Sabres had scored off Antii Niemi in the first were bad enough to cause Stars’ head coach Lindy Ruff to make the goaltending switch during intermission.
With under 20 seconds left in the game, Lehtonen appeared to make an even closer save on Buffalo forward Ryan O’Reilly. The shot seemed to flutter about a foot off the ice for what seemed like an eternity, before miraculously being shot into the corner boards. The final horn sounded, and Dallas had ended their three-game losing streak.
...Again, so we thought.
The Stars had left the ice after celebrating their victory, but Bylsma remained on the bench with his coaching staff. The Sabres had left the ice, but did not completely return to the dressing room. Bylsma thought the puck had crossed the goal line, and there should be about 10 seconds left before overtime.
He was right.
From both the overhead and goal cameras, the puck had crossed the goal line, and the Stars should have been strapping their pads on for more hockey. Instead, the on-ice officials conferred with the NHL replay office in Toronto, and upheld the call, sending the natives home happy. The reasoning was the puck was hovering over the black pants of Lehtonen’s uniform, and they could not distinctly tell what crossed the line.
Bylsma was very critical of the call, telling reporters:
“I think the answer is they don’t definitively know that (the puck) crossed the goal line. I think we can all see it passed the crossbar. That’s the answer.”
For a league that invented the “glow puck” for TV broadcasts in the late 1990’s, you would think the NHL would improve the technology to ensure the call is correct, as fast as the sport is between the whistles. The NFL will have more television cameras operated for Super Bowl LI next Sunday than there were at President Trump’s inauguration ceremony last week. The MLB and NBA have taken great strides in recent years to improve close calls with cameras on the outfield walls, and above the backboards respectively.
So can someone explain to me how they can get a camera in a foam pylon in the NFL, but haven’t yet put a camera inside of a solid steel goal post in the NHL?
The cameras would go in each goal post, about halfway up, and lenses would need to be no larger than the size of a dime. Right now, the NHL is leaving the judgement up to a camera mounted over 50 feet above the playing surface, and a second camera on one of the support posts, that is looking at the goal line from a perpendicular angle. You are trying to tell me that the league found the economic growth to put a team in Las Vegas, support two franchises (Winnipeg Jets and the Islanders) whose maximum arena capacity is under 16,000, and they cannot develop a camera to put into the strongest material on the playing surface?!
I wonder how Ruff feels to be on the other side of the controversial goal call to end a game between these two teams. Don't think for a second he or the Sabres will ever forget about 1999.
-JC24