How the **** do you stop that guy!!!
Also: was it a goal or not????
Playing their fourth game in six nights, the Sabres fell to the hard charging Washington Capitals 3-1 and in the process failed to take the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference race.
Leading the way for the Caps was Russian wunderkind and hockey demigod Alexander Ovechkin. Ovechkin increased his league lead in goals scored to 54 with a first period goal on a breakaway and got the clincher late in the third for the final goal of the game.
Ales Kotalik scored for the Sabres on the power play to even the score at one, but just minutes later superb rookie Niklas Backstrom found himself alone in front of the net and put one past Ryan Miller to make it 2-1, and that score would hold until Ovechkin’s second of the night.
But the game didn’t finish without some controversy, with under three minutes to go Jason Pominville appeared to have put the puck just past the red line amidst a scrum of players in front of the Washington net. After a lengthy review delay the referees determined that there was no goal and the game would end soon after without incident.
After the game the buzz was all about the disputed non-goal. Said Jason Pominville:” “The referee explained that the replay was nonconclusive. I’m not sure if it went in or not, I was just trying to see the replay… the guys on the bench told me it went in.” Chimed in Derek Roy,” “Well I told the ref to check it and he said that it didn’t go over the line. I told him to make sure and check it, then the league called and said the puck had gone in. From my point of view the puck went in before the whistle blew, but we have to trust the league’s decision on that.”
Slanted and biased personal opinion…the puck was in before the whistle blew. What’s the point of replay if they can’t figure this out?????
In the coach’s corner Lindy toed the line and immediately said that “the refs made the right call.” More than anything, Ruff appeared to be somewhat satisfied with the effort of a club that had played its fourth game in six nights. He noted that “I thought we really played solid in our own end……almost rock solid in our own end…. Were we smart at times…no.”
The Sabres remain one point out the eighth spot with the next game coming up on Saturday against Carolina.
