The NHL has a message for the Pittsburgh Penguins: Oops.
The Philadelphia Flyers overcame a three-goal deficit to eventually stun the Penguins in Game 1 of their heated series in Pittsburgh on Wednesday night. But would it have actually happened if the Flyers hadn't gotten away with a clear offsides that led to a breakaway goal from Danny Briere? Well the final score would indicate the answer is no.
And NHL Senior Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell is apologizing for it.
"There's no other way to explain it but a missed call," Campbell told the Canadian Press. "We're as upset as Pittsburgh almost. It's a mistake."
Well apparently the league is more upset than the Penguins, at least their coach Dan Bylsma. To his credit, he refused to blame the loss on the clearly blown call.
"That's not why we lost the game," Byslma said.
Maybe not Dan, but it certainly didn't help you guys try and win the game. I appreciate the no-excuses mentality, but this is one time he actually could have used it.
Campbell further explained what he saw.
"It was a quick turnaround," said Campbell. "You can see it was a quick 70-foot pass -- the linesman was up with the play and then had to move quickly back and he saw it from the angle he saw it from.
"But still his job is to get the right call and he didn't."
See, now that is accountability. I know a lot of Flyers fans don't necessarily want to hear it, but it was a bad call. They were given a gift to lead to the goal.
Campbell coming out and admitting this isn't going to reverse the result of the game or anything, but at least might bring some shred of comfort for the Penguins fans knowing they were wronged.
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