Narrenpost-Kasten » The correct call was made by bac

NEWARK, N.J. - Dont write off the New Jersey Devils playoff chances, just yet. The Devils are getting good goaltending from Cory Schneider and Martin Brodeur, and anything is possible when the guy in the nets is on his game. The Toronto Maple Leafs are another story. Theyre struggling in goal with Jonathan Bernier out with a groin injury and they are barely hanging on to a playoff spot. It was on display Sunday night. Schneider made 21 saves and withstood a furious late attack and Devils posted a much-needed 3-2 win over Toronto, sending the struggling Maple Leafs to their fifth straight loss without Bernier. The win moved the Devils within five points of Toronto for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Washington is a point behind the Maple Leafs with a game in hand and Columbus is two points back with two games in hand. "I know the statistics dont say that but I really feel we can win every game," Devils coach Pete DeBoer said of the Devils playoff chances after winning for only the second time in six games. "You look at our schedule and if our goaltending continues to play the way it is, I think we can win every game." The Devils won this matchup by taking advantage of Toronto mistakes to take a 3-0 lead early in the second period. Rookie defenceman Jon Merrill set up a second-period breakaway goal by Patrik Elias and scored 32 seconds later to build the lead. Damien Brunner had scored in the first period. "Anything is possible," Devils captain Bryce Salvador said. "We are not looking 10 games ahead. Were just looking at the next game. Were trying to play every game like its the last game." Tyler Bozak and Phil Kessel scored for the Maple Leafs, who saw embattled goaltender James Reimer give up three goals on 10 shots in less than 22 minutes of action. The skid ties Torontos longest of the season and it could not have come at a worse with nine games left in the regular season. New Jersey, which was shut out twice in its recent slide, capitalized on bad plays by the Maple Leafs. Brunner, who had been a healthy scratch the past two games, gave the Devils the lead with his 11th goal of the season. Defenceman Marek Zidlicky started the play with a pass up the ice to Adam Henrique that started an off-man rush. Henrique found Brunner coming down the right side and his shot from the circle went over Reimers glove. The game changed in the opening two minutes of the second period and Merrill was the catalyst. Controlling the puck in his own end, he made a stretch pass that got Elias behind defenceman Morgan Rielly. Elias skated in on Reimer and made a move to his backhand that deked the goaltender out of position for a shot into an empty net. Defenceman Peter Harrold, who had not dressed in the Devils 12 games following the Olympic break, carried the puck low into the Maple Leafs right circle and sent a pass toward the net. Ryane Clowe had it hit off him and go to the left point, where Merrill unloaded a shot that squeezed through the goaltender and rolled into the net. "I think that was the best 30 seconds of my career so far," Merrill said with a laugh. "Everyone in here believes. We know if we keep playing our game and doing things right, we are going to get wins and points and we can make it." Maple Leafs coach Randy Carlyle sent Drew MacIntyre to replace Reimer after the third goal. He had been playing for the AHLs Toronto Marlies this season before being recalled after Bernier was hurt. He finished with 14 saves. The Maple Leafs played a lot better the rest of the game. Bozak put them on the board at 5:26 of the second period, redirecting a pass by Rielly on a power play into an open net. Kessel got his 36th of the season with 1:31 to play after Toronto pulled its goaltender with more than two minutes left in regulation. Kessel crashed into the net after the goal but returned for a wild final 91 seconds in which Schneider made two big saves. "We have lot of games left we have to come together as a team and battle," said Bozak, who repeatedly said that the team let Reimer down and it wasnt fair to blame the goaltender. Carlyle refused to discuss his goaltending situation. "We have to find a way to stop the bleeding here and do everything in our power to regroup with this hockey club and get them playing to a higher level," he said. "When we do play for stretches, we look like a team that could play with anybody, and then we are inept in some areas where the puck doesnt bounce our way, or hits a post. All the good fortune we had earlier seems piled against us." Toronto had plenty of good scoring chances the rest of the way with none greater than a two-man advantage for 1:16 late in the period. Dion Phaneuf and Cody Franson had big shots that Schneider stopped in winning his second straight after losing the previous three. Schneiders best saves might have been early in the third period when he came across the crease and stopped James van Riemsdyk in close and made a glove save on Bozak after the Leafs pulled their goaltender. The game was David Clarksons first in New Jersey since signing with the Maple Leafs as a free agent after last season. NOTES: Bernier did not make the trip to New Jersey in missing his fifth straight game. ... Harrolds assist was his first point since Nov. 12 against the Rangers. ... For the second game in a row, Jagr hit a post with a shot. ... Van Riemsdyk has one goal in his past 11 games. ... The Devils dressed seven defencemen. Eric Gelinas got the odd shift with the fourth line. 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This time, Tebow was in a groove the entire second half -- not just in the waning minutes -- and his teammates on defence were getting gobbled up.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry Fraser wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca! Hi Kerry, I am really confused about something that happened in the game between the Flyers and Leafs last night. The Flyers scored a goal that was verified immediately by the ref directly behind the net. He signaled the goal. But the goal was disallowed apparently when the other ref (who was closer to Argentina then he was the play) called it no goal. The replay clearly showed it was a goal, and more importantly, in the net BEFORE the whistle. Now I understand that is not reviewable, but what I dont understand is why the ref behind the net cant just say, "Hey I was right on top of it, its a good goal". The explanation provided by the announcers was something akin to the other ref losing sight of the puck. If that was the case, almost every goal in the NHL could be disallowed by the center ice ref since it is unlikely they would have a very good view of the puck itself from about 100ft away. Thanks. John Berry Hi Kerry, During this game, the Flyers had a goal disallowed when the neutral zone ref blew the play dead on a "hold the post" type play. The question is: why is someone that is about 100 feet away blowing the play dead? The ref that could actually see the play signaled goal. Later in the game, the Leafs scored on a play where the puck was jammed out from underneath the goalies pad, no whistle. There was no way to see the puck from center ice on the Leafs goal, either. Help me understand which game these refs were watching. Brian Mullaney View the play in question here (17:04, 2nd period). John and Brian: While I must admit that we dont often see the back referee kill a play when he deems the goalkeeper has the puck covered, it is well within his authority to do so. Let me explain why I agree with the call made on the ice by referee Dean Morton from his position in the neutral zone. Both of you are only partially correct when you stated that the referee behind the net, Kevin Pollock, was in position to see the play and then signal a goal once the puck entered the net. The overriding fact is that Leafs goalkeeper, Jonathan Bernier, clearly had the puck covered underneath his blocker and held tight against the post a reasonable time for the play to be considered dead. This "reasonable time" frame is demonstrated by the fact that Bernier initially covered the puck when Matt Read, the Flyer who eventually dislodged the puck, was positioned well behind the net near the end boards and had some distance to travel to the post at the sidee of the net.dddddddddddd In fairness to referee Kevin Pollock, he had a considerable distance to travel from the opposite side of the net towards the corner and was unable to see that Bernier had the puck covered. By the time referee Pollock was able to assume a position behind the net, Matt Read had already jammed Berniers blocker with his stick and dislodged the frozen puck. At this point, the referee gained a sightline that allowed him to see the exposed puck which Matt Read knocked into the open corner of the net from the seat of his pants. Even though back referee Dean Morton was a long distance from the net (albeit much closer than Argentina) he had a view from the open side to where Jonathan Bernier froze the puck with his blocker against the post. From this unobstructed view to the goal and with a broad perspective of the play, Morton would have taken a quick look to determine the sightline that his had partner on the other side of the net in that moment. Knowing that Pollock could not possibly see that the puck was covered from his position, referee Mortons radar intensified once he saw an initial attempt by Michael Raffl to jam at Berniers glove with his stick and as Raffl was subsequently knocked to the ice by Leafs defenceman Cody Franson. Knowing that Kevin Pollock had not yet assumed a position to determine the frozen puck, referee Mortons "intent to blow the whistle" would have kicked into high gear once he saw Matt Read jam at Berniers blocker and expose the puck. Mortons whistle to kill the play is audible just as referee Kevin Pollock moves into position behind the net to signal a goal once the puck crossed the line. The correct call was made by back referee Dean Morton to determine that the puck had been frozen by the Leafs goalkeeper prior to Matt Read dislodging it with his stick and then knocking the puck into the net. The correct procedure was also followed to the letter when Morton quickly approached referee Pollock to inform him that the puck had been frozen by Jonathan Bernier. FYI, in an article I wrote on November 28, 2011 I responded to a fan question when Kris Letang of the Penguins dug a frozen puck from underneath the catching glove of Carey Price to score the game winning goal in overtime. The goal line referee was on the opposite side of the net and impossible to detect that Price had the puck covered. My answer in that column was that the back referee near the blue line with an unobstructed view should have blown the play dead prior to or as Kris Letang jammed the puck loose. Click on the link below to see the similarity of these two plays. Fraser: Discussing Letangs goal and Paciorettys hit ' ' '