32.2 Disputes - The Referees shall have general supervision of the game and shall have full control of all game officials and players during the game, including stoppages; and in case of any dispute, their decision shall be final.

As there is a human factor involved in blowing the whistle to stop play, the Referee may deem the play to be stopped slightly prior to the whistle actually being blown. The fact that the puck may come loose or cross the goal line prior to the sound of the whistle has no bearing if the Referee has ruled that the play had been stopped prior to this happening.

In the event of any dispute regarding time or the expiration of penalties, the matter shall be referred to the Referee for adjustment and his decision shall be final. He may use the Video Goal Judge to assist in rendering the final decision. See Rule 39 – Video Goal Judge.

Being a referee as you know, I wanted to put my two cents in and try to explain the logic in the rule. Hockey is an extremely fast sport and things happen in a split second and that is what the rule is designed for. There are several reasons why you need this rule and I will give you a couple of examples. The whistle could of been defective, laugh all you want but that cork ball inside the whistle can freeze, preventing the whistle from working properly. The Referee could of gotten bumped or obstructed while lifting his arm to blow the whistle. Another thing that may of happened was that he was distracted by an altercation in front of the net. Amongst other things, those are some examples.

My only beef with the two situations is that they had different outcomes, making the rule inconsistent. In the Kings/Rangers game, the referee let the replay booth dictate the call when ultimately he has the final say. The crew on Wednesday night in the Detroit/Dallas game got it right, the replay booth told LaRue it was a goal and he explained that his intent was to blow the whistle. By LaRue stating his actions as he did, that voids the replay as his call was the play was dead before the puck crossed the line.

The best part of last nights game was the efforts of Tim Thomas. My article yesterday had mentioned how Thomas was not playing like the Vezina winner of 09 and he shut me up last night stopping all 27 shots he faced giving Timmy his 13th career shut out. Don’t get me wrong, with the exception of a great save he made late in the third period to preserve his 3-0 shutout Thomas was far from challenged since he was well protected by the solid defense.

I also mentioned the non-existent power play yesterday and once again I got shut up with Marc Savard scoring on their only power play chance last night. The B’s did what they were supposed to do, they came and played the full 60 minutes. Tonight Bruins head to Pheonix and try to back up the Dallas game and come home 2 for 2. Claude Julien has a tough decision between the pipes tonight since traditionally you would see the back up goaltender in back to back road games but with Thomas’ effort last night, he may still get the nod leaving Tuukka Rask on the bench once again.

Usually the Garden fares well for the Bruins where they lost just 6 games in the 2008-09 season. So far the B’s haven’t tasted that home cooking with 3 loses in five games already this season. Although their 5 points are just one less than last season after five games, it has been an up and down battle. The Bruins hit the road tonight for the first time in the 2010 run at the Stanley Cup hoping to bond as a team on this short 2 game trip.

Early on we have seen a lot on inconsistency with this years squad and Tim Thomas has not looked like the Vezina trophy winner of 2009 having a .868 save percentage. We have seen this team go from looking like a Junior “C” team to the Stanley Cup contenders they were just one year ago. The loss of P J Axelson on the penalty kill has also hurt the Bruins as they have given up 8 goals on 26 times short handed and the power play has been non-existent ranked 25th in the League.

So what do the Bruins need to do tonight in Dallas against the undefeated Stars? They need to play a physical game from start to finish, for the exception of the Carolina game, we have not seen a solid 60 minute effort yet. The B’s also need to protect Tim Thomas in front of the net, Dallas has averaged 4 goals per game so far with the Bruins only averaging 3 goals for and 3.8 against.

Claude Julien has shaken the lines up tonight to try to spark the offense. The new combination’s might  have Marc Savard centering Marco Sturm and Michael Ryder, and David Krejci in the middle of  Milan Lucic and Blake Wheeler.