With all the goalie interference bellyaching, how is nobody mentioning that the only reason Neal's stick was anywhere near Hellebuyck's mask is because Byfuglien was lifting his stick.
I get it, goalies need a shot at a save in the crease, but the general phrasing with this whole thing is "Neal two handed slashed Hellebuyck in the mask" and while it's true he hit Connor, he was going for the puck and had his stick lifted very quickly by Byfuglien and it resulted in Helle getting hit.
It definitely wasn't a "baseball style hack/slash" like people keep saying.
I give the good goal my:
Hell, even Big Buff knew it, since he only gave the required shove for touching the goalie and not the response you'd expect from someone like him after watching an opposition player smash a stick into their goalie's face.
People say it was a missed penalty, and thus the goal shouldn't have counted and play should have stopped once Haula touched the puck, I'm not even sure it's a penalty.
Further, it makes no sense to smack the goalie when you're right in front of the goal, there's a puck there, and a five hole, in a tied up game. It resulted in a goal from Haula, but nobody knows that's going to happen while the play is going on in real time. Why smash the goalie? Perhaps Byfuglien should have slashed Neal himself to try to stop the shot instead of lifting Neal's stick into his goalie's face.
