BOSTON — Even after Sam Bennett swept a loose puck into a gaping net for the tying goal at 3:41 of the third period, the Bruins had every reason to believe they would get relief from a challenge.
After all, Bennett had shoved Bruins center Charlie Coyle into goaltender Jeremy Swayman, pinning Swayman underneath and preventing him from making a save on Bennett.
It seemed a clear-cut case of goaltender interference and the Bruins launched their challenge, only to have it denied by the NHL Situation Room in Toronto. The tying goal stood, and things got worse from there for the Bruins. They managed to kill off the ensuing power play stemming from their denied challenge, but Florida broke through with the game-winning goal from Alexander Barkov at 7:31 for a 3-2 Florida win.
The victory gives the Panthers a commanding three games to one lead in their playoff series with the Bruins. Florida can eliminate the Bruins with a win at home Tuesday night.
“Puck’s in the crease and I’m get pushed from behind,” recounted Coyle, “and I go down on Sway and the puck trickles past, right to their guy (Bennett), empty net. I figured I could probably turn around and make a play on it, clear it (if I hadn’t been shoved out of the way). That’s what happened. Tough call.”
“I think that we could have prevented that (goal),” said Swayman. “The fact is that Coyle was pushed into me and I couldn’t play my position. So that’s that. I just want to stick to facts. The fact is, my own player was pushed into me by theirs and I couldn’t play my position.”
“We thought that Coyle was on top of our goaltender,” said coach Jim Montgomery, “and if Coyle was able to stand his ground, he could have cleared the puck. That inhibited our goaltender from being able to play the puck.”
Not only was the goal not negated for goaltender interference, but Bennett also escaped being whistled for a cross-check of Coyle. Instead of the goal coming off the board and the Bruins getting a power play, the Panthers’ score stood and they were awarded another man advantage.
“It’s a huge swing,” said Coyle. “They score, tie it, get a PP out of it. That’s the momentum and the swings of the game. We saw something different. Yeah, no other words for that. Whether you agree with it or not, you’ve got to play through it. That’s what we take pride in.”
Asked if he expected the call to be reversed in Toronto, Coyle said: “I figured, but you just never know. It’s such a fast sport. You slow things down, maybe it’s different. It’s always tough to know how it’s going to (come out).”
“I know that our guys aren’t going to call for a challenge unless they know it’s going to get reversed,” said Swayman. “The fact is, I couldn’t play my position.”
The fact that the goal was scored by Bennett, who had sucker-punched Brad Marchand in Game 3 resulting in a concussion for Marchand, didn’t seem to matter much to the Bruins.
“I don’t know who scored goals,” said Swayman. “I just know it went in, and that’s frustrating enough. My job is to keep pucks out of the net and that’s all I care about.”
