NHL admits goal mistake

The NHL said Friday that a video review had incorrectly nullified a late-game goal by the Colorado Avalanche during a 4-3 loss to the St. Louis Blues, the first mistake of its kind since coach’s challenges were added before the 2015-2016 season. The league said it made a mistake by taking away Mikko Rantanen’s goal late in the third period Thursday night on a coach’s challenge for offside. The review determined that Sven Andrighetto was offside, but on his previous entry into the offensive zone — a play that would not be subject to a challenge. The disputed sequence happened in a matter of seconds. Andrighetto was in the offensive zone when he gets possession of the puck, which would make him offside, and some of the Blues stopped skating. He re-entered the zone onside and fed the puck to Rantanen for the goal. The on-ice officials, in consultation with the NHL’s situation room in Toronto, incorrectly reviewed the first zone entry, which happened less than two seconds earlier. By rule, challenges can only be made on the entry into the offensive zone before a goal. Because of that, the league said, “The goal should have counted.” If the goal had counted, the Avalanche and Blues would have been tied at 4-4 at 17:26 of the third period and St. Louis would have been given a two-minute minor penalty. The NHL did not contemplate restarting the game from that point.