Dallas Stars: "If we had a whistle …": Ben Bishop will not upset the stars, but many questions are looming on the horizon

Ben Bishop was lying on the pack ice, his right hand stuck grabbing his left shoulder and his gloved left hand supporting it underneath. He rolled from the left side to the back of the right side and pivoted backward, squirming in pain as the Stars' hopes of ending their second-round streak flew away with a 4-1 loss in Game 6 of Sunday against St. Louis.

In the third period of a game to a goal, Bishop was suddenly found helpless, was immediately incapacitated and fell on the ice from a shot hit by Colton Parayko at the collarbone or left shoulder. As Bishop writhed in front of the net, Alexander Steen grabbed the puck and shot a shot that sent Jaden Schwartz to the goal.

The goal gave the Blues a 3-1 lead and cast doubt on the situation of the goalkeepers of the Stars and the application of the rule book of the NHL. Bishop remained in the game for 33 seconds more, until he was beaten by Sammy Blais' hit shot in transition and he was pursued to the locker room.

After the match, Stars coach Jim Montgomery said Bishop was doing well and post-match X-rays, like Bishop's, have generally been a precautionary measure. Nevertheless, Anton Khudobin came into play for the last time in career, at 11:50.

The goal did not count – the Stars led 2-1 at this point and did not score anymore. The game was a shot in a series that is now tied for three in the seventh game Tuesday night at St. Louis at 7 pm. And that's not the reason the Stars lost.

"We have to keep playing, we have to keep fighting for it," said Stars coach Jim Montgomery. "You can not be a referee, they are doing a good job and they are at that level of playoff series for a reason and they thought there was no reason to denounce it. had to play through stuff. "

This did not prevent the game from being a lightning rod of controversy through the conclusion and follow-up of the game. After the match, the series supervisor, Kay Whitmore, invoked rule 8.1 to explain that the game was not stopped while Bishop was injured on the ice.

Here is what rule 8.1 says: "When a player is injured and can not continue to play or go to his bench, the game must not be stopped until the injured player's team has obtained Puck control If the player's team is in control of the puck at the time of the injury, the game must be stopped immediately unless his team is in a goal position.

In case it is obvious that a player has suffered a serious injury, the referee and / or the linesman can stop the game immediately. "

This is how Whitmore explained the play: "But the rule is pretty clear: in this situation, they will not kill her, and as soon as her team had possession of them, they would have killed her immediately. they did not consider it serious enough to kill him immediately and did not manage to take possession of the ball before the puck came in. It's quite clear how this rule works. "

The room brought more questions to the light.

Should officials be discreet when goalkeepers are injured as opposed to forwards or defenders? How do managers determine whether an injury is serious or not? Has the rule been applied correctly even if the rule book deserves to be changed?

"If we had a whistle, we probably would have rang," said Stars captain Jamie Benn. "And if they had a whistle, they probably would not have it – it's like that, you can not worry about that and you have to move on."

"It's a discretionary appeal to the arbitrator if he thinks there's an injury, and how important is it?" Montgomery said.

"I think there should be a whistle, that's the rule, but you really can not change anything at the moment," said Star Defender John Klingberg. "We did not play well enough to win, so it's not as if we were focusing on it for the moment, they scored three more goals than us, and that's it." what it is now. "

Now, the Stars have to worry about their goalie situation.

Bishop could very well be good for Game 7 Tuesday night. But injuries can sometimes worsen with the time that has elapsed. Bishop was sometimes spectacular for the Stars this series, including a wonderful performance with 38 saves in the fifth game in St. Louis. He is the finalist of the Vezina Trophy and it is one of the main reasons why the Stars are pioneers of the black horse to lift the Stanley Cup.

Khudobin has been watching from the bench for each of the first 11 playoff games. He was arguably the league's best backup goalkeeper during the season, with .923 save percentage in 41 games, a career high.

Khudobin has not played since April 5, when he allowed six goals in Chicago, and never started a playoff game. If Bishop can not play on Tuesday, the first match of Khudobin would be in a decisive series of the seventh match.

"We are not talking about this," said Khudobin. "Let's finish this day, tomorrow is a new day, day after day, so, tomorrow, get ready for the plane to St. Louis, rest and get ready for Game 7. I do not know. not what happens. "