Kings benefit in clock snafu
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The NHL is investigating a scoreboard error Wednesday night in Los Angeles that could have an "enormous impact" on playoff races in the Western Conference.
Near the end of the game at Staples Center, the clock briefly stopped in the closing seconds -- giving Los Angeles defenseman Drew Doughty enough time to score the winning goal in the Kings' 3-2 victory against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The puck officially crossed the line with less than a second to play in regulation. When the Blue Jackets looked at video after the game, they discovered the clock froze for roughly a second just before Doughty's goal -- meaning time should have expired.
The NHL's video room looked at the play immediately after the goal was scored, but did not notice that the scoreboard stopped while the Kings buzzed around the net.
"We didn't even look to go back and say 'OK, did something happen [with the clock]?' " Colin Campbell, the NHL's senior executive vice president of hockey operations, said Thursday.
"When it crosses the line [and] you review it, you back the puck out and you see what the clock was. And the clock was 0.4 [seconds].
"And then after the game, minutes after the game, we see [it and say,] 'Holy cow.' "
Campbell confirmed that the goal should not have counted and said the league would conduct an investigation to determine what caused the error.
"You ask some tough questions," he said. "You've got to ask every question."
The result of the game is expected to stand, and the Blue Jackets were upset by an incident that cost them at least one point in the standings.
There also is the question of what it might mean for teams battling the Kings for playoff position in the West. Los Angeles is seventh in the conference -- five points ahead of eighth-place Minnesota and six ahead of Dallas and Colorado.
"We will never know if the Kings would have got the extra point in overtime or shootout, but they may not have," Columbus general manager Scott Howson wrote in a blog.
"This extra point in the standings could have an enormous impact both competitively and economically. What if the Kings make the playoffs by one point or gain home-ice advantage by one point?"
First Published February 3, 2012 12:00 am
