NHL investigates controversial goal

The NHL is investigating a scoreboard error that gave the Los Angeles Kings a win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday.

Kings defenceman Drew Doughty scored the winning goal with less than one second to play in regulation to lift his team to a 3-2 victory. Upon review, the puck crosses the goal line with somewhere between 0.6 and 0.4 seconds remaining on the official clock.

However, when the Blue Jackets looked at video after the game, they discovered the clock froze for roughly a second prior to Doughty's goal, meaning time should have expired.

On Thursday morning, senior executive vice-president of hockey operations Colin Campbell acknowledged there was an error and said the league was “asking tough questions” about the incident.

Campbell says he can't recall a similar situation during his 14 years with the NHL.

The NHL's video room looked at the play immediately after the goal was scored, but didn't notice that the scoreboard stopped while the Kings were buzzing around the net.

"We didn't even look to go back and say 'OK, did something happen (with the clock)?''' Campbell said. "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 shouldn't 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.

In a blog post on the Blue Jackets website, general manager Scott Howson explained the incident and noted the extra point earned by Los Angeles could have an “enormous impact” on the Western Conference standings.

According to Howson, who was not in Los Angeles but rather at the CHL Top Prospects Game in Kelowna, B.C., the Blue Jackets coaches immediately walked down the hall and alerted the referees of the error once they reviewed the play.

Howson writes in his post that he spoke twice with Campbell after the game and that Campbell confirmed that it was the actual game clock (and not a TV network clock) that stopped for one full second prior to Doughty’s goal.

“It is an amazing coincidence that with the Kings on a power play at STAPLES Center and with a mad scramble around our net in the dying seconds of the third period of a 2-2 hockey game that the clock stopped for at least one full second. I can only think of two ways in which this would have happened. Either there was a deliberate stopping of the clock or the clock malfunctioned,” Howson writes. “It’s easy to say that this doesn’t matter. We, the Blue Jackets, are in last place and it is likely not going to affect our place in the standings. However, in my opinion, this matters in many respects. It matters to our players, to our coaches, every person in our organization and our fans.”

Howson believes this error matters to every team fighting for a playoff spot in the Western Conference, as well.

“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? We could be talking about a team not making the playoffs and missing out on millions of dollars in playoff gates,” Howson writes. “No one can ever convince me that this result does not matter.”

UPDATE: ESPN.com reached out to Kings general manager Dean Lombardi, who responded with this email:

"Those clocks are sophisticated instruments that calculate time by measuring electrical charges called coulombs -- given the rapidity and volume of electrons that move through the measuring device the calibrator must adjust at certain points which was the delay you see -- the delay is just recalibrating for the clock moving too quickly during the 10 - 10ths of a second before the delay -- this insures that the actual playing time during a period is exactly 20 minutes That is not an opinion -- that is science -- amazing devise quite frankly."

UPDATE 2: Columbus GM Scott Howson pulled his blog from the club's website on Thursday afternoon. According to reports, a team spokesman said that Howson believed there were a few points in his blog that he "made too strongly."

(with files from CP)