NHL admits mistake on review of tying goal
A lively Avalanche rally late in the third period Thursday night against the St. Louis Blues ended in shrugs after a video review overturned a would-be gametying goal with less than three minutes remaining. Confusion set in on all sides.
Friday, the NHL admitted a blunder.
Mikko Rantanen’s open-net goal seemed to tie the game at 4-4. But St. Louis coach Mike Yeo challenged the result, claiming the sequence only unfolded from an offside position. The Avs’ goal should not be allowed, Yeo claimed. After a long review, the referee and linesmen agreed.
The goal, at first called good, was overturned and the Blues won 4-3 at the Pepsi Center.
To be clear, Avs’ forward Sven Andrighetto was offside before he keyed a rush from the left side. The puck cleared St. Louis’ zone and he did not recover outside the blue line before the puck reached his stick.
Even Colorado coach Jared Bednar seemed to acknowledge the offside. “Our guys thought there was a chance he was offsides,” Bednar said.
But here is where the confusion set in.
Video showed that Andrighetto was clearly offside. But in the moment, the linesmen missed the call. And when the puck cleared the zone, it essentially reset the sequence.
NHL video review rules allow a challenge on the same sequence, the same zone entry. Once the puck left the zone, it should have kept Yeo from challenging.
The mistake was in allowing a challenge. According to TSN’s Pierre LeBrun, the NHL admitted the mistake. Even though Andrighetto was offside, the video challenge should not have been allowed. And the goal should have stood.
The rulebook in this case, unfortunately, is not exactly clear. And in the moment, St. Louis defenders seemed to stop skating, thinking an offsides call was obvious.
Yeo had already used a coach’s video challenge, on an Avs goal from Blake Comeau early in the third that was allowed. Comeau charged down the ice and seemed to push Blues defender Robert Bortuzzo into goaltender Carter Hutton. St. Louis claimed goalie interference. The Blues were overruled.
Alexander Kerfoot’s goal with less than five minutes remaining drew the Avs to within 4-3.
Perhaps to his credit, Bednar on Thursday night was more concerned with how his team should have won the game outright, specifically calling out at least one player by name — Nail Yakupov — for poor effort.