MONTREAL — As linesmen Kyle Flemington and Trent Knorr continued to squint at the tablet being held up to their faces, Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy knew the call was not going his way.
“They’re over there for three minutes,” Cassidy said of the linesmen’s extended peek at whether Charlie Coyle was offside prior to his would-be go-ahead goal. “What is the purpose of this rule? Either you find something you don’t. Three minutes. Now you’re looking for something, for it to be offside. You know it’s going to go the other way, and it did.”
The reason Flemington and Knorr burned through so much screen time is that they were searching for a needle in a haystack. In that instance, Coyle might have crossed the offensive blue line before the puck. But if he did, it was by a fingernail’s width.
And that is Cassidy’s problem with the rule.
“There was a change this summer, punishing the coaches if they got it wrong for this reason: They didn’t want three-minute reviews,” Cassidy said after the Bruins’ 5-4 loss to Montreal. “Anyway, it was a big part of the game. Didn’t go our way.”
The offside challenge was originally an answer to Matt Duchene, when he was with Colorado, being in another ZIP code from that of the puck prior to a goal against Nashville. It was the definition of a blown call.
It was not meant to address plays like Coyle’s, where even replay cannot conclusively determine whether the player is offside. It is a pity, even, that professionals like Flemington and Knorr are being asked to determine something in real time that cameras cannot.
But after an extended study, the linesmen judged Coyle to be offside, which wiped out the goal the No. 3 center scored at 5:23 of the third, one that seemingly gave the Bruins a 5-4 lead. Less than four minutes later, Ben Chiarot snapped a puck off Tuukka Rask’s glove and into the net to turn the result the Canadiens’ way.
“It’s so hard to tell,” Coyle said. “That’s what they called. We didn’t lose or die by that call. Still got to earn a play and win the game. We didn’t.”
“They’re over there for three minutes,” Cassidy said of the linesmen’s extended peek at whether Charlie Coyle was offside prior to his would-be go-ahead goal. “What is the purpose of this rule? Either you find something you don’t. Three minutes. Now you’re looking for something, for it to be offside. You know it’s going to go the other way, and it did.”
The reason Flemington and Knorr burned through so much screen time is that they were searching for a needle in a haystack. In that instance, Coyle might have crossed the offensive blue line before the puck. But if he did, it was by a fingernail’s width.
And that is Cassidy’s problem with the rule.
“There was a change this summer, punishing the coaches if they got it wrong for this reason: They didn’t want three-minute reviews,” Cassidy said after the Bruins’ 5-4 loss to Montreal. “Anyway, it was a big part of the game. Didn’t go our way.”
The offside challenge was originally an answer to Matt Duchene, when he was with Colorado, being in another ZIP code from that of the puck prior to a goal against Nashville. It was the definition of a blown call.
It was not meant to address plays like Coyle’s, where even replay cannot conclusively determine whether the player is offside. It is a pity, even, that professionals like Flemington and Knorr are being asked to determine something in real time that cameras cannot.
But after an extended study, the linesmen judged Coyle to be offside, which wiped out the goal the No. 3 center scored at 5:23 of the third, one that seemingly gave the Bruins a 5-4 lead. Less than four minutes later, Ben Chiarot snapped a puck off Tuukka Rask’s glove and into the net to turn the result the Canadiens’ way.
“It’s so hard to tell,” Coyle said. “That’s what they called. We didn’t lose or die by that call. Still got to earn a play and win the game. We didn’t.”