Devils Fans Litter the Ice with Garbage After THREE Disallowed Goals

Riding a 13-game win streak, the New Jersey Devils went into Wednesday night's game against Toronto the hottest team in the NHL. To start the game, both teams had their fair share of scoring chances, but it was the Devils who would strike first.

However, the goal would be disallowed citing an uber-soft goalie interference call.


The call on the ice was 'no-goal' and the Devils challenged the play. On top of the blown decision, the referee also botched the review call in spectacular fashion.



After Toronto gained a 2-0 lead, the Devils would score again; only to have this one called off because of an incidental contact between Matt Murray and Tomas Tatar. Once again, the officials made the wrong call. I'll explain.


According to Rule 69: goaltender interference, if the goalkeeper is outside the crease and an attacking player makes incidental contact with the goalkeeper at the time a goal is scored, the goal is allowed. As retired defenseman Bryce Salvador said in intermission, it is either a penalty or a goal; it was neither. So what gives?


In third period, Erik Haula would have had a shorthanded tally to pull the Devils within one. This one was disallowed too, but of all three goals this one actually made sense. Haula kicked the puck, and it pinballed into the net. Can't do that, enough said.


In typical New Jersey fashion, Devils' fans promptly started a Ref You Suck! chant, and frankly the officiating crew deserved it in this one. On top of two blown calls on the disallowed goals, they have made several soft penalty calls as well as missing several clear penalties; on both sides, so it wasn't even necessarily one-sided. The officiating was just bad, and fans let them know it.


That is one heck of a way to have a 13-game heater snapped, but the Devils never quit. They pushed back, taking total control in the latter half of the game. They scored with a few minutes on the clock and the building erupted. If they had tied the game, the building might have been set on fire.

But they didn't, so it wasn't.