Inside Look At The NHL's War Room

I don't get it. I honestly don't. Call it sour grapes or whining or whatever, but I don't get how an offical or replay official can look at Hartnell's "goal" last night and determine it shouldn't count. The call cost the Flyers at least one point, and with how tight the Atlantic and the East in general are, games need to be called correctly. This isn't griping about a bad slashing call or penalty, this is black and white.

For those that didn't see the play, the Flyers were losing 4-1 in the 3rd period. A shot is taken, and as usual, Scott Hartnell is in front of the net trying to clean up. He jams the puck past Olaf Kolzig, the players celebrate, and the building erupts. However, Dave Jackson waves it off, claiming that he blew the whistle. If you saw the play live or any replays, it's clear that the puck was in the net long before the whistle is heard.

Understanding these facts, how can it then go to the NHL's replay room and still be determined to not be a goal? Incompetency and poorly worded rules, of course! The rule for blowing plays dead is not when the whistle is blown, but when the official has intent to blow the whistle. What? How can you determine that? Is it when it's in his mouth? When he blinks? How can an important rule be so vague?

As for this specific play, why would Dave Jackson have intent to blow the whistle in the first place? Why would it take him the two seconds to think about blowing the whistle and bringing it up to his lips to do it? The puck was not frozen. It was clearly still in play, and Kolzig had not yet covered it up.

The league needs to get consistency. In the last Flyers/Penguins meeting, Evgeni Malkin scored a goal on a similar play. This one, however, was not overturned. There was no review. It counted. If one counts, so should the other. If one gets waved off, so should the other. It's black and white.

The Flyers played poorly for much of the game last night, yes. If they wanted points, they should've played 60 minutes of hockey, not 50. However, that doesn't excuse officials from not calling a good game.