Sunday, 19 February 2012

New York Rangers’ buzzer-beater goal overturned in another Columbus clock controversy (VIDEO)

After being royally screwed against the Kings earlier this month thanks to a stuttering game clock, the Columbus Blue Jackets survived an apparent buzzer beater scored against them at the New York Rangers on Sunday night.

Check out the drama as Michael Del Zotto scored what appeared to be a last-second goal to end the second period, which would have given the Rangers a 3-1 lead, only to have it waved off by the War Room. It beat the clock on the scoreboard, but not the official game clock:

Moments later, the Fox Sports Ohio crew reminded viewers that the "burn-in" on the television broadcast isn't the official game clock, and that "in Toronto, they have the official burn-in of the official clock and time had indeed expired." The clock that determined this one was likely in the penalty box at MSG.

This wasn't the only buzzer-beater in the NHL on Sunday.

Shea Weber scored one to close out the first period — and it counted. According to the Situation Room blog: "Video review upheld the referee's call on the ice that Shea Weber's shot crossed the goal line with 0.2 seconds remaining in the first period

Notable in these rulings by the NHL: The new game-clock safeguards the NHL announced after the Los Angeles Kings scored a game-winning goal against Columbus, having benefitted from a clock frozen on 1.8 seconds remaining.

From Helene Elliott, NHL VP Colin Campbell said this week:

"We have initiated a number of steps to ensure there will be no clock issues in all arenas in the NHL," Campbell said in an email. "We are observing all 'last minutes' of each period to make sure there are no 'blips' or 'pauses' in the last minute in the video booths upstairs. In our new video room in Toronto we now receive live feeds of the overheads so we are not 'slaved' to TV waiting to see if they show the overheads.

"We will find a way to bleed the clock feed into the overheads now. We have implemented a few other items into the clock process as well to make sure there can be no burps."

Here's a suggestion: Can we, like, get all the clocks visible to the paying customers in the arena or on TV to sync up with the "official" one?



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