Those of you who are fans of Saturday Night Live will be familiar with cast member Kenan Thompson and his frequent proclamations in sketches, "What's up with that?"
Well, that question could certainly be applied to the NHL's hand-pass rule after Thursday night's game between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Lightning tied to score late in the game, only to have Nikita Kucherov's goal called back by the NHL's Situation Room in Toronto, which declared that Brandon Hagel was guilty of directing the puck to Jake Guentzel with a hand pass leading to the goal. Tampa Bay lost 4-3.
Hagel was actually putting his glove up to keep from losing a couple of teeth, and there was nothing deliberate about it. But what matters under Rule 79 of the NHL rulebook is whether the player stopped or "batted" a puck in the air with his hand and, in the opinion of the officials, directed the puck to a teammate or gave his team gain an advantage. The same wording applies in international hockey.
Jon Cooper and the Lightning found Nikita Kucherov’s overturned goal “laughable” after it was ruled that Brandon Hagel used his hand to pass the puck on the same play.
— BarDown (@BarDown) December 5, 2025
Did the officials make the right call, or is Cooper speaking the truth? ⤵️
(🎥: @nhl, @jayrecher) pic.twitter.com/qFZFAxYSxA
So you can be that when the GMs next hold their meetings, this is something that will be discussed. Don't be surprised if the rule is tweaked in time for next season.
Watch today's video column up above for more.
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