Replay error

Devils don't get credit for Pandolfo goal in first period

Jay Pandolfo beat Patrick Lalime through his legs, but the puck quickly bounced off the padding inside of the right post. Al Bello/Getty Images/NHLI

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -- The New Jersey Devils were denied a goal in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals Thursday night when NHL officials on and off the ice failed to detect that a first-period shot went in the net.

Jay Pandolfo's shot from close range with 7:50 left in the first period got well inside the right post. The puck struck a pad at the bottom of the net and kicked right back out and under goalie Patrick Lalime, who was in a seated position.

"The goalie did the splits and I never saw it after that," goal judge Paul McInnis said.

Jamie Langenbrunner, who made the pass to Pandolfo, raised his arms in celebration as referee Kerry Fraser skated to the front of the net. John Madden appeared to ask Fraser about the call of no-goal, and the goal light never came on.

"Once the on-ice officials stopped play, the video replay official and the supervisor of officials reviewed the play on tape," said Colin Campbell, the NHL's director of hockey operations. "There was no indication from anyone on the ice that the puck had gone in, and there was no indication from any of the initial camera angles viewed that the puck had crossed the goal line.

"The in-net camera was the only angle that showed the puck had crossed the goal line, and when that angle finally was available, the puck had been dropped and play had resumed," Campbell said in a release issued during the second intermission.

After a 39-second stoppage, the puck was dropped without Fraser talking to off-ice officials. It wasn't until near the end of the period that Fraser got on the phone and appeared to get the news it was a goal.

"The preamble to Rule 93 states 'No goal may be awarded [or disallowed] as the result of video review once the puck has been dropped and play has resumed following the first stoppage of play after the potential goal,"' Campbell said.

 

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