In case you have not seen it yet or heard about it, here is the controversial goal in question scored by Simon Gagne.
Before you blame this one on the NHL for blowing it, they are not totally to blame for it. Au contraire, the blame lies squarely on the shoulders of FSN Pitt for not giving the NHL the proper angles they needed. In other words, that last angle, that clearly showed the puck in the net, was never seen by the NHL! Why didn't they see it? Because FSN Pitt never sent it to them! From the Philadelphia Inquirer's Sam Carchidi
An NHL executive said last night that replay officials in Toronto were not given the proper replays by Fox Sports in Pittsburgh on Thursday, when they ruled that Simon Gagne's goal did not count against the host Penguins.Somone should be fined or suspended over that.
Gagne swatted a second-period rebound that Penguins goalie Brent Johnson smothered and appeared to carry into the net. It was not ruled a goal on the ice, and when replay officials in Toronto viewed the replays, they said the evidence was "inconclusive" and did not count the goal.
A few minutes after the ruling, another replay was shown in the press box, showing the puck past the goal line.
Fox did not send that replay to Toronto officials until after the puck was dropped following the ruling.
"At that point, the ruling was permanent," said John Dellapina, an NHL executive.
The Flyers' telecast was using the Pittsburgh video feed and did not have any video to send to Toronto.
Luckily for that somebody, the Flyers won that game easily, 7-4, and the controversy is moot as far as affecting the game goes, but it does call into question the integrity of some network affiliates as surely it can't be a coincidence that the only replay that clearly showed it was a goal was the only replay that the NHL never saw?
I saw a feature on the Carolina Hurricanes where they did a behind-the-scenes look at a TV broadcast and it was from a game in Pittsburgh.
ReplyDeleteThey basically said they run a "dual feed" w/ FSN Pittsburgh controlling most of the cameras. The visiting team has 2 or 3 cameras of their own.
It's pretty common among local crews. You can tell if it's a "shared broadcast" usually if NHL.com uses the home broadcast for highlights.
P.S. The Penguins broadcast is awful and not because they're my team's biggest rival. Steigerwald sounds like somebody has shot his dog when an opponent scores.