WHL suspends Chiefs defenseman Baldwin

WHL: Spokane Chiefs defenseman Corbin Baldwin received a two-game suspension by the Western Hockey League after a major checking to the head penalty and a game misconduct in Wednesday night’s 4-1 loss at Kamloops.

Baldwin, one of three 20-year-olds on the team, will miss the Chiefs’ games this weekend when they host Victoria today and travel to Kootenay on Saturday.

The ailing Chiefs are already playing with limited reserves, as Tanner Mort (upper body, two weeks), Cole Wedman (upper body, one week) and Reid Gow (right hand, one month) are all sidelined with injuries.

Jess Brown

NHL inspects clock problem

NHL: The NHL is investigating a scoreboard error that could have an “enormous impact” on playoff races in the Western Conference.

During Wednesday night’s game at Staples Center in Los Angeles, the clock briefly stopped in the closing seconds – giving the Kings’ Drew Doughty enough time to score the winning goal in a 3-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The puck officially crossed the line with less than a second to play in regulation. However, when the Blue Jackets looked at video after the game, they discovered the clock froze for roughly a second just prior to Doughty’s goal – meaning time should have expired.

The NHL’s video room looked at the play immediately after the goal was scored, but didn’t notice that the scoreboard stopped while the Kings were buzzing around the net.

“We didn’t even look to go back and say ‘OK, did something happen (with the clock)?’ ” Colin Campbell, the NHL’s senior executive vice president of hockey operations, said Thursday.

Campbell confirmed that the goal shouldn’t have counted.

Associated Press