Gary Bettman disagrees with Pat Foley's comments about late starts in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The NHL commissioner dismissed the Chicago Blackhawks broadcaster's stance while meeting with The Associated Press' sports editors at the league's offices Friday.
"Mr. Foley didn't have his facts straight ... that everybody hates (late starts)," Bettman said, according to Chris DeLuca of the Chicago Sun-Times. "It was off the mark."
During Game 5 between the Blackhawks and the St. Louis Blues on Thursday night, Foley - a CSN Chicago play-by-play voice whose feed was being simulcast nationally on NBCSN - lamented the amount of late local start times in the series before being abruptly cut off for a commercial.
Related: NBCSN, Mike Milbury take issue with Pat Foley's rant about late start times
"We are still (on) earlier than what all the other sports do, with respects to Mr. Foley," Bettman said Friday.
"I spoke to (Blackhawks president) John McDonough this morning and told him we'll play at midnight if you want," he added. "We are not playing at midnight."
McDonough called the commissioner to tell him he wasn't happy with Foley's remarks.
Bettman said the Blackhawks are comfortable with starting at 8:30 p.m. local time, and the league won't discipline Foley because "he doesn't work for us."
Deputy commissioner Bill Daly admitted the later times are "not ideal" for NHL teams, but said the clubs buy in to the goal of showing every game in a given night.
Three of the five games in the Blackhawks-Blues series have had a local start time of 8:42 p.m.
Game 6 will begin just after 7 p.m. Central time in Chicago on Saturday. Puck drop for Game 7 in St. Louis on Monday, if necessary, hasn't been determined.
- With h/t to Second City Hockey
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