KHL changes rules on goalie blocking after Spartak coach's complaint

The rule "Blocking the goalkeeper / interference to the goalkeeper" of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) changed after the complaint of the coach of the hockey club (HC) "Spartak" Alexei Zhamnov because of the unrecorded puck in the gate of the SKA team in the game, which took place on January 8. This was reported on January 29 in the press service of the KHL.

"If an attacking player influences, pushes or commits a rule violation against a defensive player, forcing the defensive player to make contact with his goalie, then such contact will be considered for contact committed by the attacking player, and in accordance with this rule (if necessary) a penalty will be imposed on the attacking player, and if a goal takedown occurs, it must be canceled," reads the seventh paragraph of the new version of the amended rule.

It is specified that the Spartak coach filed a complaint after the referee canceled the puck scored by the Moscow club forward Nikolay Goldobin in the match against the team from St. Petersburg due to the fact that the Red and White forward Mikhail Maltsev blocked the SKA goalie at the time of the shot.

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Earlier, on January 8, Spartak Moscow defeated SKA St. Petersburg in an away game of the regular KHL championship. The meeting ended with a resounding score of 5:0. Forward Ansel Galimov, in turn, scored a double (25th, 33rd minutes).