Was Corey Crawford interfered with on key Predators’ goal? (Video)

The moment after Filip Forsberg of the Nashville Predators scored to tie Game 3 late in the third period on Monday night, Chicago Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford spun around to the referees and registered his protest.

Forsberg’s shot went through Crawford a split second after Viktor Arvidsson bumped the Blackhawks goalie, who was stationed just outside the top of his crease. Arvidsson put his stick down on the ice over Crawford’s, and also appeared to bump the goalie’s mask.

Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville used his coach’s challenge.

It was denied.

Here’s the goal:

So did the Blackhawks have a case here?

The goalie interference rule states that goals should be disallowed if “an attacking player initiates intentional or deliberate contact with a goalkeeper, inside or outside of his goal crease.”

That said, “Incidental contact with a goalkeeper will be permitted, and resulting goals allowed, when such contact is initiated outside of the goal crease, provided the attacking player has made a reasonable effort to avoid such contact.”

Watch Arvidsson at the end of this play. He makes contact with Crawford, for sure. But he’s not going through Crawford like a freight train. He’s actually trying to spin back into an attacking position as the Predators rebound the puck.

If the referee’s position here is that Arvidsson made contract outside the crease and “made a reasonable effort to avoid such contact,” that’s a reasonable conclusion here, and the goal was correctly counted.

But others disagree:

Now, please, give us the several hundred examples of a goal like this not being allowed in the NHL. Because we all know they exist.

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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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