Murray 'pretty disappointed' in non-interference call taken in Washington (Courtesy of Point Park University)

Brett Connolly scores on Matt Murray. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS

WASHINGTON It was just two weeks ago that Brett Connolly’s generosity toward a young girl stole the hearts of hockey fans everywhere, Pittsburgh included.

Here, in case you missed it, is another reminder:

Aww, adorbs.

Well, needless to say, the Washington forward is no longer in Pittsburghers' good graces — especially Matt Murray's — after Sunday's 4-1 loss in Game 2 of the Penguins-Capitals second-round series. 

TAP ABOVE FOR BOXSCORE

With a little over five minutes remaining in the first period, Jakub Vrana scored what proved to be the game-winner in the final seconds of Washington's first power play opportunity.

But before Lars Eller dished the puck from the corner to Vrana in the slot, Connolly took a swipe at Murray's right pad. It was a completely unprovoked and unnecessary move by Connolly:

But neither a slashing nor an interference penalty was called on the play. To be fair, it's hard to see what, if any, impact Connolly's slash had on the goalie's ability to play the shot, but the Penguins challenged the goal unsuccessfully.

Obviously, Murray saw things quite differently:

"I was pretty disappointed," he said. "As a goalie you just want to be able to do your job. When something like that happens and you can't do it, you just want to see the rule upheld. I was disappointed in that one."

Murray said he wasn't given any explanation as to why the on-ice call was upheld. Vrana's goal was one of several controversies to come from Game 2 but it might be the most problematic for the league.

It was only a matter of time before the NHL's dreaded "what is goaltender interference?" controversy would strike in the playoffs. On Saturday, it cost Vegas a potential game-winning goal against San Jose.

On Sunday, the Penguins were the victims of the vague and seemingly arbitrary interpretation of the rule.

They are certainly no strangers to how that works. Most famously, Brian Dumoulin had an apparent goal waved off against the Maple Leafs on March 10. Dumoulin's non-goal was one of the driving forces behind the league adopting changes in late March to rule 78.7 that stipulates that all goalie interference reviews would now be handled by a former referee watching from the NHL's situation room in Toronto.

Asked for his opinion on the rule, Murray was keeping mum Sunday.

"It's not up to me, that's all I'll say about that," he said. 

To make matters worse for Murray and his teammates, Connolly scored on a breakaway at the 2:08 mark of the second period to give the Capitals a 3-1 lead en route to evening the series at one game apiece:

MATT SUNDAY GALLERY

Penguins at Capitals, Washington, April 29, 2018. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS

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