The Florida Panthers are on the brink of eliminating the Boston Bruins from the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
They won Game 4 and now hold a 3-1 series lead in the second round of the playoffs, but it was controversial.
Sam Bennett has been at the center of attention throughout the series against Boston.
He delivered a hit on Brad Marchand in Game 3 that led to the B’s captain missing out on Game 4, and he scored the most important goal in Game 4 to tie the game up for Florida.
With 16:20 left in the third period, the puck was bouncing around Jeremy Swayman’s goal, and Bennett was the one who reacted first and quickest.
He managed to get the puck beyond Swayman to level the score at 2, but looking at the replay, it appeared as Swayman had no chance of reacting at all.
Bennett shoved Bruins forward Charlie Coyle into Swayman’s path, which led to the goalie having no chance of getting over to save the puck.
But the officials called it a goal on the ice. The Bruins responded by issuing a Coach’s Challenge for goalie interference.
But after review, the situation room ruled that there was no goalie interference, and the goal stood. Fans were left absolutely furious over the decision, given it looked obvious that Coyle was pushed into Swayman’s path.
However, the TNT broadcast would later provide additional details on the Situation Room’s ruling.
”Their stance is that there was some contact. They acknowledged the shove but didn’t think there was enough to be considered goaltender interference,” the panel said during the broadcast.
”The referee down low saw the shove, acknowledged the shove, just didn’t think it was enough contact to take away the goalie’s ability to make the save. That is the stance of the NHL. Both the NHL referees on the ice and the Situation Room agreed that there was no goaltender interference on the play.”
