Board won’t fiddle with rules

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- The NHL’s board of governors believes the league’s scoring downturn is temporary.

The league’s owners and top executives adjourned their two-day meeting Friday by agreeing to leave their game alone for the time being. Though they discussed nearly every aspect of the league, Commissioner Gary Bettman and many governors believe the extensive rule changes after the lockout deserve more time to grow.

“We need to constantly poke and prod and be vigilant, but we need not be revolutionary,” Bettman said after the sessions in a golf resort on the Monterey Peninsula. “We need not be impatient. We need to see how it evolves and how it all settles in.”

Bettman and the board again discussed several proposals floating in the hockey world to increase scoring, which is slightly down for the second straight season since the initial year after the lockout. NHL teams average 5.4 goals a game this season, down from 6.2 two seasons ago.