There are certain calls in an NHL game we’re just conditioned to anticipate. A player falls on a breakaway, and we assume it’s always a penalty. A goalie flops in the crease, and we assume it’s no goal*
Hand passes certainly fall into that category. Any puck off the glove that goes from teammate to teammate is usually whistled down. But a puck that went off the glove of Alex Burrows to Vancouver Canucks that was eventually tipped home by teammate Nick Bonino was not, and the result against the Edmonton Oilers was a goal on Saturday night.
Never a good sign when the goalie reacts by mimicking the hand-signal the referee didn’t make...
But here’s the question: Should Bonino’s goal, which cut the Edmonton lead to 3-2 and helped lead to the Canucks eventually tying the game in regulation, have counted?
The rule from the NHL’s official rule book:
79.1 Hand Pass - A player shall be permitted to stop or “bat” a puck in the air with his open hand, or push it along the ice with his hand, and the play shall not be stopped unless, in the opinion of the Referee, he has directed the puck to a teammate.
A player shall be permitted to catch the puck out of the air but must immediately place it or knock it down to the ice. If he catches it and skates with it, either to avoid a check or to gain a territorial advantage over his opponent, a minor penalty shall be assessed for “closing his hand on the puck” under Rule 67 – Handling Puck.
Letter of the law, this wasn’t a play that should have been whistled down. Burrows wasn’t trying to direct the puck to defenseman Dan Hamhuis, whose shot was tipped home by Bonino; he was just trying to keep it in the zone.*
But when’s the last time you saw a play like this that wasn’t whistled down? On that point, we sympathize with outraged Oilers fans and Viktor Fasth. Especially when Burrows even picked up an assist on the play.
*

*
*
*
*