They don’t ask how, they ask how many. We’ll look back on Tuesday night’s game later on and say, “At least they won.” But in the moment… YIKES! It was just in the regular season; imagine it was in the Playoffs. After last season and this past game, Zach Hyman has to be considered the greatest disallowed goal scorer of all time. One more disallowed goal on Tuesday, and he would’ve invented the “Hyman Hat-Trick.”
The first goal called back against him was for Goaltender Interference. The problem with this call is that Petr Mrazek skated towards Hyman from his crease. If it were the other way around and Hyman skated into Mrazek, then it would absolutely be interference, and there’d be no argument. But he was just standing in front, trying to get into position for a tip-in. If the goalie leaves his spot, it should be fair game. The second goal called back was deemed offside. I can forgive this one more because replays show that it was really, really close. What I can’t forgive is how long it took to review. The NHL needs to implement a new rule that if you still don’t have a definitive answer after two minutes of zooming in or out of the tablet screen, then the play should just be left alone. These offside reviews were introduced after a game in 2013 where Matt Duchene went offside by a continent mile and scored. In 2022, Cale Makar made up a rule that you are actually allowed to go offside as long as your stick isn’t touching the puck for one millisecond. Rather than having the issues fixed, they just became more confusing. I normally refrain from talking about referees because every team occasionally deals with bad officiating. But this should’ve at least been a 3-1 game instead of a 2-1 game. Hyman even had chances to put the game away with an empty net goal and kept missing. I mentioned in the keys to that game that Hyman needed to have another hat-trick. Funny enough, he almost did and probably should have.
All of that isn’t even the worst part, though. I’ll give the Blackhawks credit. They worked hard and played well. But I also wholeheartedly agree with what Mattias Ekholm said during the second intermission. The Oilers did not look like a team that had just won seven games in a row; they’re now eight. Edmonton’s next two games, including tonight, are against teams fighting for a Playoff spot. After watching the Oilers play sloppily against the 31st-place team in the league that has key injuries galore, they’d better smarten up against teams that are still in the hunt and hungry to make ground. The keys to the game are…
Rested Hosts: The Red Wings are only one point out of a Wild Card spot. They also haven’t played a game since Sunday. I’ve made note of something like this in a previous article or two. From a fan’s perspective, the time off can be really beneficial. From a player’s perspective, they’d sometimes rather keep on playing in order to avoid feeling rusty on the ice. We’ll see which one of those perspectives comes true for Detroit tonight.
Pat And Al: Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane have been one of the best forward duos in the league this season, both averaging points in all their games played and bringing their old Chicago chemistry to the state of Michigan. Watching them against Hyman, Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins should give the people attending tonight’s game their money’s worth.
The Heart Of A Lyon: For a team not getting the best goaltending from a couple of their netminders, Alec Lyon has come up huge for the Red Wings in the 12 games he has started this season. He has a 2.51 GAA and a .920 SV%. Petr Mrazek is having a decent season for Chicago but didn’t play his best game on Tuesday, disallowed goals aside. Tonight’s goalie will be a bigger challenge for the Oilers, especially with an opponent that has a lot more to play for in the standings.
