NHL Rule Change Needed

This NHL season I have noticed again and again players who collide with a goaltender being given a penalty. Goalies need to be protected from players charging through the crease…I have no problem with rules to protect them. That said the current rule as framed and interpreted by referees needs to be examined. There are players who are being penalized for goalie interference who are should not be so penalized.

Last night during the Washington Capitals-Buffalo Sabers game during a scramble in front of the net a Caps defensemen literally body checked a Sabers’ winger into the Caps goalie. Seconds later, the Sabers scored but it was waived off for goaltender interference and the Sabers’ winger given a penalty. Later in the game, a Caps player is cutting in with the puck along an arch from the faceoff circle on the goalie’s right. As he shoots the puck, the Sabers’s defenseman rides the winger out and then body checks him upending him into the goalie. The Caps player was penalized for goaltender interference.

What gives with penalizing an offensive player who has been manhandled by a defensive player into the goaltender? The only way that an offensive player can avoid such penalties is to stay at least five feet away from the crease. Such an expectation is outrageous and the rule needs to be changed. If the defensive player is responsible for the propelling an offensive player into the goaltender, not only should the player be not penalized but the defensive team takes the consequences of their action. In the Caps game the Buffalo goal should have stood. Yes the goalie was knocked to the other side of the crease by the body of the Buffalo player, but it was the Cap player who drove him with a hard body check into the Caps goalie.

By nullifying goals and penalizing offensive players, defensive players are free to ride and body check offensive players into the goaltenders. Again, the rule must be changed.