Patrik Eliáš (left) and Petr Sýkora, shown here after
the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals. Photo: sport.cz.
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At that
moment, a 34-year-old veteran Petr Sýkora, Eliáš’s long-time friend and
linemate, had an idea that he thought would help his team. He tricked the officials
and went to the penalty box to serve a double minor penalty for his teammate’s
foul.
Despite
loud protests from Pittsburgh, the referees let the game go on and, 70 seconds later,
Eliáš scored a goal to tie the game at 1.
After the
game, Sýkora explained his actions, stating that he wanted to help his team. "It
was disrespectful to the referee on my part, but I didn't want to have Eliáš go
to the penalty box for four minutes," Sýkora said on the NHL’s website.
“I just got the idea, and it worked out and Eliáš actually got a goal there. After that, the referee came up to me. He wasn't happy and I apologized to him,” he added.
The
question is why Sýkora apologized to the referee if he knew what he was doing,
but the main thing is that justice did not remain blind. Actually, the Penguins
played as if they were intent on administering their own justice and scored
three goals in the third period to win 4-1.
Because
they won the game, the Pittsburgh players didn’t show any anger about the
incident. "You could see it pretty clearly it was the wrong guy in the
box," said the Penguins goalie Marc-André Fleury to nhl.com, "but I guess it turned
out alright in the end."
The wording
of the rules:
If the same
situation were to occur in any European league or IIHF tournament, no goal
should be allowed, according to Rule 562 of the IIHF rulebook:
562 - PLAYERS LEAVING THE PENALTY OR PLAYERS BENCH
…1. If a player shall illegally enter the game from his own player's bench or from the penalty bench by his own error or the error of the Penalty Bench Attendant, any goal scored by his own team shall be disallowed, while he is illegally on the ice, but all penalties imposed to both teams shall be served….
…1. If a player shall illegally enter the game from his own player's bench or from the penalty bench by his own error or the error of the Penalty Bench Attendant, any goal scored by his own team shall be disallowed, while he is illegally on the ice, but all penalties imposed to both teams shall be served….
Unfortunately,
the NHL rulebook does not have any similar provision in the case where a player
scores a goal while he should be in the penalty box. Still, it seems that the
officiating failed at some point, because the referees had informed the
official scorer that Eliáš was the player who should serve double-minor penalty,
but nobody corrected the situation before play resumed. The closest applicable
rule states:
70.4 Leaving the Penalty Bench
…In the case of a player returning to the ice before his time has expired through an error of the Penalty Timekeeper, he is not to serve an additional penalty, but must serve his unexpired time. …
…In the case of a player returning to the ice before his time has expired through an error of the Penalty Timekeeper, he is not to serve an additional penalty, but must serve his unexpired time. …
This rule deals with leaving the penalty bench prematurely due to an
error by the penalty timekeeper’s error,
not a situation where the wrong player is in the box from the beginning.
However, this incident demonstrates the NHL’s need to change, or at
least clarify, the rule. Fortunately, in this case, the incident did not affect
the final score and the Penguins won the game, but hopefully steps are taken to
ensure no similar goal is allowed in future.
