Credit video coordinator Hunter Cherni with the win! The Arizona Coyotes preserved a 1-0 shutout victory by goaltender Connor Ingram thanks to two Sharks goals disallowed on Coach’s Challenges.
Twice in the third period, trailing by one, the Sharks thought they’d tied the game. Twice, those goals were overturned.
Coach’s Challenge: Goaltender Interference – 7:40 of the Third Period
San Jose’s Luke Kunin charged the net, making a deke at the top of the blue paint. Goaltender Connor Ingram stopped the initial shot, but the puck bounced to Sharks winger William Eklund who fired it into the goal.
Kunin’s skate appeared to have made contact with Ingram’s stick and left leg pad within the blue paint, pushing him out of position and preventing him from making a save. From Rule 69.1:
“Goals should be disallowed if … an attacking player, either by his positioning or by contact, impairs the goalkeeper’s ability to move freely within his crease or defend his goal.”
Rule 69.3:
“If an attacking player initiates contact with a goalkeeper, incidental or otherwise, while the goalkeeper is in his goal crease, and a goal is scored, the goal will be disallowed.”
Coach’s Challenge: Offside – 16:01 of the Third Period
The Sharks continued pressing for the tying goal. Mikael Granlund thought he’d found it with four minutes to play. Unfortunately, speedy winger Anthony Duclair had preceded the puck into the zone. Arizona cleared it out, creating a delayed offside. The puck was deflected back in by San Jose’s Fabian Zetterlund, who held off on touching the puck until Duclair tagged up.
Again, the Coyotes challenged. As we’ve seen in the past on delayed offside plays, the player in possession of the puck can delay touching the puck until his teammates tag up. The problem here is that by continuing into the zone, Zetterlund put himself onside. If his skates were still in the neutral zone at the time he touched the puck, it would’ve been onside. Rule 83.3 covers a delayed offside:
“All players of the offending team [must] clear the zone at the same instant (skate contact with the blue line) permitting the attacking players to re-enter the attacking zone.”
Again, the Sharks goal was wiped off the board. They wouldn’t put another one past Ingram.
Hunter Cherni has been the the Coyotes Head Video Coordinator since 2020.
“He studies all the calls and the plays and that’s his job,” Coyotes head coach Andre Tourigny said of Cherni. “He needs to make the call and he has the confidence to do it.”
The Coyotes are now a perfect 3-for-3 in challenges this season and have won five straight, dating back to January 2022. Arizona has gone 8-3 in Coach’s Challenges since Andre Tourigny stepped behind the bench.
The Arizona Coyotes won the game 1-0 over the San Jose Sharks. Referees were Trevor Hanson (#14) and Jordan Samuels-Thomas (#42), with linesmen Ryan Galloway (#82) and Jesse Marquis (#86).
