The New Jersey Devils were a part of another pathetic display of what’s wrong with the NHL. This time, it involved a clock, power plays and a very long stoppage.
You can’t make this stuff up. The Devils were in the middle of a bad call double minor on Miles Wood, when Marcus Johansson took a penalty of his own. The New Jersey Devils were now fighting 5 on 3, when the penalty time started going up. That’s right, as time went on, the penalty time was going up as play continued. Instead of fixing the problem, the referees waited until the Boston Bruins scored before addressing the issue.
Then, it was, to say the least, a lengthy delay. Based on the tweets of the Pucks and Pitchforks Twitter account (because I can’t find an exact number), we tweeted about Patrice Bergeron scoring a goal at 7:28 p.m. The play resumed at around 7:40 p.m.
That means more than 12 minutes of players just sitting around. Players were waiting to see multiple things the referees should know, but couldn’t figure out.
One, there was mass confusion about whether the Devils should be 5-on-4 or 5-on-3. I expect the referees to know that immediately. When it’s a rules question, the refs should know immediately. The fact that they didn’t and took a long time to figure it out, is a major issue.
The bigger issue is the Bruins people could not figure out the clock. Before the Johansson penalty, the clock was going up on Wood’s penalty. Instead of fixing it there, they let BOTH penalties go up, confusing the Devils and head coach John Hynes.
That was a major mistake that ended up costing the Devils. Beyond the bad penalty call, the confusion and distraction that caused gave the Devils no chance on that kill.
Hockey is a game of momentum. It’s a game of speed and skill that’s lovely to watch. However, these extended delays make it a drag to watch.
I’ll admit, I almost turned the channel when the delay turned past the ten minute mark. This isn’t the first time the Devils were forced to sit during a lengthy delay.
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Against the Buffalo Sabres, the Devils waited what felt like forever to learn whether Taylor Hall’s go-ahead goal would count. It didn’t, taking the air out of the entire arena. It took about 10 minutes to come to that conclusion.
These long delays are an issue league wide. The NHL wants to get more casual fans to watch its sport. That doesn’t happen when you have to wait 10-15 minutes for a replay review. That kind of delay forces the broadcast to just make things up and try to stall with nothing to talk about except the play. That will turn fans to other channels.
It needs to be fixed. How is a billion dollar league not able to figure this out? Have one person on each game to watch everything from penalties to disputed goals to clock infractions. They can do simple math (how much time has passed on this penalty?) and they know the rules of the game. If the NFL can make these decisions in a timely fashion, what’s stopping the NHL?