Brutal officiating screw-up gifts Columbus a huge goal

Midway through the first period of tonight’s Game 4, the Bruins were buzzing. David Pastrnak scored early, and Patrice Bergeron followed that with a PPG to make it 2-0 Bruins.

Shortly after the Bruins doubled their lead, Columbus gained entry into the zone and fired a puck on net. Tuukka Rask blocked it up in the air, no one knew where it was, and then it came down, ended up on the stick of Artemi Panarin, and he rifled it in for a Columbus goal.

The problem? The initial save by Rask was blockered up into the netting above the glass.

This isn’t the best view, but you can pretty clearly see the puck fall back into the frame from above glass height.

Here’s another view that shows the net twitch:

NBCSN showed another angle zoomed in on the netting, and it was clear as day that the puck hit the netting.

Amazingly, all four guys wearing stripes somehow missed it, so the goal stood. You can’t review pucks for going out of play, but you CAN review plays to see if a skate was a half a millimeter offside.

Great process we have here, NHL.

The Bruins have been on their heels ever since.

UPDATE (8:37 PM): Here’s the idiotic rule that justifies this. No one is arguing that it wasn’t called by the book. It’s the book itself that’s absurd.