The Florida Panthers appeared to tie game 1 of their second round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning but the goal was overturned after a Coach’s Challenge confirmed that the puck hit the netting.
Anthony Duclair collected a loose puck and fired it past Bolts goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy.
The puck deflected up on a shot from the point and hit the protective netting before falling right in front of Duclair for the easy goal. The on-ice officials may have missed it, but Tampa head coach Jon Cooper didn’t. The Bolts bench boss immediately challenged the goal for a missed stoppage.
After a quick review, the goal was wiped out and clock wound back to the time the puck went out of play.
The details of the challenge are covered in Rule 38.10:
The standard for overturning the call in the event of a “GOAL” call on the ice is that the NHL Situation Room, after reviewing any and all available replays and consulting with the On-Ice Official(s), determines that the play should have been stopped but was not at some point after the puck entered the attacking zone but prior to the goal being scored; where this standard is met, the goal will be disallowed.
Potential infractions that would require a play stoppage in the offensive zone include, but may not be limited to: Hand Pass (Rule 79); High-Sticking the Puck (Rule 80); and Puck Out of Bounds (Rule 85).
Such infractions will only serve as a basis for overturning a GOAL call on the ice if video review can conclusively establish that a game stoppage event had occurred in the offensive zone and was missed by the On-Ice Official(s). Where the infraction at issue was a missed penalty call subject to the judgment or discretion of the On-Ice Official(s), such infraction cannot result in the “GOAL” call on the ice being overturned, even if upon review, the On-Ice Official(s) would have made a different call.
Referee Kerry Fraser offered some perspective on how the referee down low may have missed it.
As a Ref on the goal line, I never turned my head to look up at the netting behind me. Everything in front of me was more important to view. I left that judgement to linesmen & other Ref in neutral zone once he was added to the crew.
— Kerry Fraser (@kfraserthecall) May 18, 2022
The Lightning went 4-for-8 on challenges this season. This is their first successful challenge for a missed stoppage all time; they’re now 1-for-4 on missed stoppages.
Referees for the game were Kelly Sutherland (#11) and Jon McIsaac (#2); linesmen were Matt MacPherson (#83) and David Brisebois (#96).
