Predators lose in crazy fashion against the Panthers

The Nashville Predators had yet another chance to clinch last night but suffered a loss on the road against the Florida Panthers.

The Predators faced off against the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night, riding in off a huge win against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

It was an important game for both teams. The Predators had a chance to clinch the division and the conference with a win, while the Panthers need to win out and hope the Flyers lose to have a chance of making the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Game Recap

Most of the game was a goalie duel, as both goalies played great all night, making outstanding saves to help keep their team in the game. The Panthers got the scoring going late in the 1st period on a goal from Jonathan Huberdeau.

That score stood until the 10 minute mark in the 3rd period, when the Panthers doubled their lead on a goal from Colton Sceviour.

The Predators had many chances throughout the entire game, but just couldn’t capitalize until late in the game. Roman Josi scored his 13th goal of the year, as Ryan Ellis assisted on the goal. Josi was able to shoot the puck through traffic and past Roberto Luongo.

The Predators made another late push, as they forced a turnover with just under 10 seconds left. Filip Forsberg “scored” a goal with under a second left, but was waived off because of goalie interference. It was an absolutely awful call and is something that the NHL needs to fix.

A point would’ve been huge for the Predators, even if they would’ve lost in overtime.

Social Media Reaction

Much of Smashville and just about everyone else that watched the game had no idea why goaltender interference was called, and they expressed that on Twitter. Many celebrities tweeted to the NHL, expressing their reasons to be mad at that decision.

Obviously most of these celebrities are Predators fans, but just about everyone expressed their feeling on that goal, even Kiefer Sutherland.

Thoughts on Final Call

The Predators just about had another chance to pull off a crazy comeback, until the game was handed to Toronto to review goaltender interference. Like Brandt Snedeker said, let the officials on the ice have the final say in whether it was a goal or not. Go off the reaction that the officials at the game see.

Goaltender inteference has been a huge problem within the NHL this year. The NHL met to try and talk about goaltender interference, but apparently that didn’t work out. It was an awful call, and was something that was taken out of the hands of the officials at the game, and given to people in Toronto to make the final decision.

I have probably watched the final seconds of the game over 20 times now and I still don’t see goaltender interference. The NHL reasoned that Viktor Arvidsson’s stick made contact with Luongo, but if you watch the replay, Yandle’s stick made contact with Arvidsson, causing him to make contact with Luongo.

It seems like the Predators didn’t get much of an explanation from the officials either.

It’s an awful way to decide a game, especially late in the season as this game had playoff implications to it.

Up Next

The Nashville Predators will have yet another chance to clinch on Thursday as they head to Washington to face off against the Capitals.