The Pittsburgh Penguins dropped another game as they lost 4-0 to the Ottawa Senators and that now makes 7 games lost in a row. They now sit at 14-10-9 on the year and need to find a way to turn things around soon.
But in the recent loss to the Senators, there was a slight turning point late in the second period as the Penguins thought they had scored a goal to make it 3-1. But the referee closest to the net immediately waved it off due to supposed goaltender interference prior to the puck entering the net.
But it was seen on several replays that the puck was in the net before Penguins forward Rickard Rakell made contact with Senators goaltender Linus Ullmark. And to go along with the fact that Rakell was pushed into Ullmark by Senators defenseman Jake Sanderson.
The Penguins and head coach Dan Muse then challenged the call and made the referees put the headsets on and talk to the Situation Room in Toronto to try to make the goal stand. But the referees came back a few minutes later and confirmed there was interference and no goal was the call.
And Penguins fans were in disbelief on social media that the refs upheld the call and did not deem the goal a good one. It was clear as day to see that the puck was already in the net way before Rakell even touched Ullmark.
And Rakell was never in the blue paint where a lot of interference usually happens. He was in the white in front of the goal and trying to screen Ullmark to get his teammate an advantage and a better chance to score a goal.
It seems that any NHL referee still has no clue as to what goaltender interference actually is. The goal should have stood and the Penguins should have been carrying momentum towards the end of the period from there.
There was no reason why the referees should have taken this goal away and taken away any kind of momentum that the Penguins were going to have from it. Yes, it was going to be a real tough hill to climb, but the goal should have stood and the referees are still unsure of how to do their job.