It happened in the third period as the game clock was off by several minutes as the Kraken held a 3-1 lead. The officials notified both teams about the clock malfunctions as the hope was that play would continue uninterrupted after the clock ran down. ESPN was also aware that the clock was wrong, as the clock was removed from the screen and viewers were notified.
Unfortunately, the clock issue was not fully communicated to the fans inside the arena, leading to chaos as the clock wound down. The cheers began to grow as the Kraken fans anticipated victory, and when the game clock reached zero seconds, the buzzer went off, forcing officials to stop play. The fans stood up and cheered, with some fans leaving their seats, heading up the stairs and towards the exits, as they naturally thought the game was over.
One of the officials had to notify the public address announcer to notify fans that the game was not over. Given the confusing turn of events, the officials waited until the game clock was reset to 5:31 so that the game could continue.We have definitely seen confusion around game clocks before, but usually the possible difference would be a few seconds here and there. However, we have never seen a game clock off by such a large amount. 5 minutes and 31 seconds? How on earth did that happen? This absolutely requires an investigation.
Ultimately, the clock malfunction had no effect on the result of the game, as the Kraken scored an empty net goal in the final minute to clinch the 4-1 victory. [NHL]
Moonlighting as a blogger to pursue my interest and enjoyment of sports. Former high school and Division I athlete (now a "retired" family man) that loves watching and discussing all sports. Follow me on Twitter (@HoldoutSports) and like Holdout Sports on Facebook.
