On Saturday, Jan. 4, the New York Rangers lost to the Washington Capitals 7-4 at Capital One Arena in DC. It was their fifth loss over the last six. However, that isn’t the story of the game. Instead, it’s what occurred with at 7:10 of the second period.

With the Rangers trailing the Capitals 3-1, they thought that Will Cuylle had cut the deficit to one when he finished off a Filip Chytil centering pass in front for what looked like his 12th goal with 12:50 remaining in the second period. Will Borgen made a good pinch to push the puck down low for Chytil, who then found Cuylle for the goal. At the time he scored, ABC put up a graphic that indicated that it was Cuylle’s first goal in eight games.

Before they could drop the puck at center ice, the Washington bench delayed for a while before coach Spencer Carberry took a timeout. After much discussion between announcers Steve Levy, Ray Ferraro and former referee Dave Jackson, they couldn’t figure out what the Caps saw on the play. Finally, Carberry decided to initiate a coach’s challenge for offside. The puzzling aspect is that they had to go all the way back to the original entry from the Rangers to figure out if the play was offside. ABC’s replays were inconclusive, leaving Ferraro to say that if he ruled on it, there wasn’t enough conclusive evidence to overturn the call. Even Jackson seemed at a loss for words.

While Cuylle stared aimlessly at an iPad watching the replay of his goal, which was totally legal, the long delay continued due to the video room trying to determine whether the play was onside. The question had to do with Brett Berard, who was on the far side of the ice. From the angles ABC gave, it was very hard to see whether or not his skate was just ahead of the play when Chytil carried the puck over the blue line. The lengthy wait continued until finally, veteran ref Wes McCauley announced that they determined that the play was offside, negating Cuylle’s goal.

It was mind-numbing. The amount of time it took for the Capitals to challenge the play was too long. There was no way they should have been allowed to delay that long before initiating a coach’s challenge. There-in lies the problem with the way challenges are being used. During the stoppage, Ferraro said that there should be a small window for coaches to challenge calls. It’s almost as if they should use a timer. That isn’t how it works in a disorganized league that can’t be taken seriously. Whether it’s the officiating blowing calls daily, or perplexing explanations on what goalie interference is, or permitting teams to take as long as possible to stop the game for a flawed challenge system that needs an overhaul, the NHL should wake up and make the necessary changes to make the rules easier to understand for everyone.

By stalling for time, it hurts the game. Nobody watches to see officials huddle over controversial calls and lengthy video reviews that do nothing but slow down the game. If they can’t do it in a timely fashion, then there shouldn’t be a challenge. More and more coaches are using timeouts to try to decide if they should challenge a goal. There was even an instance in another recent game when a timeout was burned and after discussing it, they decided not to challenge. It borders on absurd how long coaches are allowed to delay the game before anything happens.

For the Rangers, they got screwed by the current system that’s in place. Even if it was offside, it took too long a process. Cuylle’s goal should have counted, which would have made it 3-2. Oddly enough, a few minutes later, Sam Carrick took advantage of a New Year’s gift from Alex Ovechkin to score his first goal since Opening Night on Oct. 9. Instead of possibly tying the game, it pulled the Rangers within one with 3:34 remaining in the period.

Rather than gain momentum from Carrick’s goal, the Blueshirts allowed Connor McMichael to convert on the power play after Ryan Lindgren took an undisciplined delay of game minor. That allowed the Caps to restore a two-goal lead headed to the locker room.

In the third period, Urho Vaakanainen made a great stretch pass that sent Chytil in alone for a breakaway goal that cut it to 4-3 at 8:32. He went high to beat Capitals starter Logan Thompson. But in a seesaw game that didn’t have much checking, Ovechkin took advantage of a loose puck banking off K’Andre Miller in front to slide a backhand past Jonathan Quick for career goal number 872.

To their credit, despite their deficiencies, the Rangers kept coming back. On a Reilly Smith lead pass, Mika Zibanejad beat Thompson high for his second goal in two games to make it 5-4 with 6:56 remaining. After ending an eight-game drought with a goal in a 2-1 win over the Boston Bruins on Thursday, Jan. 2, Zibanejad has looked more confident. He’s using his speed and looking to be more aggressive with his shot. If only he didn’t pass up a great opportunity back in the first period with the Rangers leading 1-0 on a Chris Kreider goal.

The Rangers wasted a good period by giving up a late power-play goal to Dylan Strome. They then reverted to their old ways by getting outplayed by the Capitals for the first part of the second. Lars Eller and Andrew Mangiapane scored to put the Rangers behind 3-1. Then, came the Cuylle goal that wasn’t. It was very frustrating due to how long the Caps were given to challenge the play. That shouldn’t be the case, but the league allows such nonsense. They’ve become like the NFL minus the popularity. Hockey remains way behind the other three major sports in ratings, yet they’re run like a circus. It isn’t easy to fully grasp.

At 5-4 down with a chance to force overtime, the Rangers instead gave up another Capitals goal when Aliaksei Protas whipped a backhand past Quick to make it a two-goal game with six minutes left in regulation. Tom Wilson sealed the Rangers’ fate with an empty netter.

It was another lost opportunity. The Caps weren’t overly impressive. They showed holes in their game defensively and Thompson was beatable. The benefit of a flawed coach’s challenge system certainly aided them in the win that’ll keep them in first place despite what the New Jersey Devils do at the San Jose Sharks.

The Rangers will now travel to Chicago to visit the Blackhawks for another annoying afternoon game on ABC. What other breaks can go against them in this lost season?