NHL explains goaltender interference non-call against Bruins

The Detroit Red Wings scored a controversial goal against the Boston Bruins on Sunday night. Officials upheld the goal by the Red Wings' Ben Chiarot after Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery challenged for goaltender interference. Despite Detroit's Michael Rasmussen clearly making contact with Bruins netminder Jeremy Swayman as the puck went in, the officials determined that interference did not take place.

Now, the NHL has been compelled to release an official explanation for the call.

As the league explained via "The Situation Room" at NHL.com, Rasmussen's contact with Swayman did not constitute goaltender interference because it was partially caused by contact from Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo. Thus, it goes down as incidental contact, rather than interference.

Here's the full official explanation:

"After video review, it was determined that the actions of Brandon Carlo contributed to Detroit’s Michael Rasmussen’s stick making contact with Jeremy Swayman’s glove outside the crease and therefore, did not constitute goaltender interference. The decision was made in accordance with Rule 69.1 which states, in part, that the goal should be allowed because 'Incidental contact with a goalkeeper will be permitted, and resulting goals allowed, when such contact is initiated outside of the goal crease...'"

The Bruins won the game anyway, holding off a Red Wings rally for a well-earned road win. But the controversial Chiarot goal tied the game 2-2 at the time, so the call clearly could have had a major impact on the outcome. Carlo's contact with Rasmussen obviously took place, as well, so the officials at least have an excuse for the ruling. Hoewver, they conveniently ignored Rasmussen's skate sliding into Swayman's, which was the real interference, if you ask me.

The B's are back in action Tuesday night for the first game of 2024, when they take on the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena.

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For the first time in almost a month, the Bruins are streaking.

In what's been a month full of frustration and negativity creeping into their game (Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery admitted that even he was feeling some negativity in how he was coaching and how he was feeling about his team's performance prior to the three-day Christmas break), the Bruins came through with what felt like one of their best wins of the season Saturday night at TD Garden.

For the Bruins, the victory over the Devils required the team erasing a two-goal deficit, and coming through with the wave-after-wave like offensive push that's eluded them for various stretches this season.

With the win, which came by way of a 5-2 final, the Bruins are on their first winning streak since a three-game winning streak that ran from Nov. 30 to Dec. 3.

Here are the 98.5 The Sports Hub (dot com) 3 Stars from a Saturday night win over the Devs...

Don't look now, but Jake DeBrusk is cooking again.

Following a two-assist night Wednesday night in Buffalo, DeBrusk continued to build Saturday night, with Boston's first goal of the night and an assist on David Pastrnak's second goal of the evening.

DeBrusk's goal was his first since Nov. 30, while the two-point night was also DeBrusk's first stretch of having points in back-to-back games since late October. And with multiple points in both Wednesday's win and Saturday's win, it actually marked the first time that DeBrusk had back-to-back multi-point games since last season, when he scored two goals in the 2023 Winter Classic and then had a goal and an assist in his first game back from injury (Feb. 18 at home against the Islanders).

The Bruins are now 11-2-0 in 2023-24 when DeBrusk records at least a point.

It's no secret that the Bruins have had some problems closing out games. And it's no secret that the Devils have been one of the league's best teams when it comes to mounting third-period comebacks.

So, while the Bruins had to feel good about the Pastrnak power-play goal that gave them their first lead of the night, you just knew there was a voice in the back of their heads saying that it wasn't enough.

Luckily for them, Bruins defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk decided to take matters into his own hands, as the veteran defender scored the Black and Gold's fourth and fifth goals of the night to help hammer the final nails in New Jersey's coffin in this head-to-head.

Shattenkirk's first of the evening made it 4-2, and gave the Bruins a multi-goal cushion through 40 minutes of action, while his second came with just under four minutes to go in the game, and truly ruined any hope that the Devils had of making this one interesting. (It also forced the Devils to keep Vitek Vanecek in his crease and not go for a 6-on-5 advantage, which has been an issue for the Bruins, and likely would be given the fact that it would've allowed N.J. to load up on their all-world skill guys out there.)

Shattenkirk's first goal of the evening was his 100th career goal, and his two-goal outing made him the first B's defenseman to have a two-goal night since Dmitry Orlov accomplished the feat last February.

When it came to this comeback, it was all about the Bruins' top dogs leading the charge. You had Linus Ullmark stop the bleeding with 23 straight saves after the Devils made it 2-0. You had Brad Marchand up his intensity as a forechecking menace, and you even saw guys like Pavel Zacha up the 'nasty' within their game with some harder finishes and thumps along the boards.

And when you're talking about a 'big dog charge' from the Bruins, you're talking about goals from David Pastrnak, who scored two, including the game winner in this contest.

(Pastrnak even picked up a helper on Shattenkirk's second goal of the evening.)

With the three-point outing, Pastrnak is now up to 48 points on the year, with only Artemi Panarin (50), Nathan MacKinnon (56), and Nikita Kucherov (59) ahead of him on that front.

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We're back with another new episode of the Sports Hub Underground, the final podcast of 2023. Ty and I recap our Christmas breaks and propose a question to our faithful listeners: would anyone be interested in calling into the show sometime, perhaps leaving voicemails or doing some kind of listener participation thing?

After that, we dig deep into the Boston Bruins. We react to their "get-right win" over the Buffalo Sabres and what it means in the here & now. But the most interesting Bruins talk comes from the rumors that Noah Hanifin wants to sign here.

That becomes a jumping-off point for the Bruins' roster moves in the near future, be it the trade deadline or next off-season.Which direction are they going to take? Who are they going to get? It should become intriguing on Causeway Street in the coming months.

Listen above for the full episode. You can get every single Sports Hub Underground podcast here at the website, and wherever you get your podcasts.

Full rundown...

(0:50) Opening banter on Christmas and the idea of incorporating calls into the podcast.

(17:05) Catching up on the Bruins and their recent performance.

(33:54) Could Noah Hanifin be on his way to the Bruins? That and more on the trade deadline and the Bruins' future plans.

(56:40) The Bruins are close to bringing up an intriguing new young prospect.

(1:05:10) Rapid-fire topics on the Patriots, the NFL Draft, and the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

(1:24:23) Drafting the "Big 3" movie weapons.

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