Carolina Hurricanes forward Seth Jarvis was awarded a goal after being slashed during a scoring attempt on an empty net.
Late in the third period with the Avalanche goaltender pulled, Jarvis gathered the puck in the Avs’ zone, with Colorado’s Mikko Rantanen backchecking hard. Rantanen swung his stick one-handed, slashing Jarvis and knocking the puck away.
Referee Furman South’s arm shot up immediately, indiciating a penalty on the play. In this case, it’s a slash.
Slashing is the act of a player swinging his stick at an opponent, whether contact is made or not. Any forceful or powerful chop with the stick on an opponent’s body, the opponent’s stick, or on or near the opponent’s hands that, in the judgment of the Referee, is not an attempt to play the puck, shall be penalized as slashing.
The situation met all the criterial for a penalty shot, per Rule 57.3:
In order for a penalty shot to be awarded for a player being fouled from behind, the following four (4) criteria must have been met:
(i) The infraction must have taken place in the neutral or attacking zone (i.e. over the puck carrier’s own blue line).
(ii) The infraction must have been committed from behind.
(iii) The player in possession and control (or, in the judgment of the Referee, the player clearly would have obtained possession and control of the puck) must have been denied a reasonable chance to score. The fact that the player got a shot off does not automatically eliminate this play from the penalty shot consideration criteria. If the infraction was from behind and the player was denied a “more” reasonable scoring opportunity due to the infraction, then the penalty shot should still be awarded.
(iv) The player in possession and control (or, in the judgment of the Referee, the player clearly would have obtained possession and control) must have had no opposing player between himself and the goalkeeper.
Of course, with the goaltender pulled, we skip ahead to Rule 57.4:
If, when the opposing goalkeeper has been removed from the ice, a player in control of the puck (or who could have obtained possession and control of the puck) in the neutral or attacking zone is tripped or otherwise fouled with no opposition between him and the opposing goal, thus preventing a reasonable scoring opportunity, the Referee shall immediately stop play and award a goal to the attacking team.
Referee Furman South relayed the call.
“The call on the ice is an awarded goal due to a foul on a breakaway,” announced South as the goal horn blared.
The Carolina Hurricanes went on to defeat the Colorado Avalanche 5-2. Referees were Furman South (#13) and Jon McIsaac (#2) with linespersons James Tobias (#61) and Ryan Daisy (#81).
