The Florida Panthers had a goal wiped out after it was ruled they had an ineligble player on the ice.

Panthers defenseman Niko Mikkola was issued a game misconduct penalty 4:01 into the third period of Saturday’s game. It seems nobody told him or anyone else on the Florida bench… and none of the officials – on-ice or off – realized otherwise.

Mikkola was out there for the next shift, even drawing a slashing penalty on Tampa’s Pontus Holmberg. Still, nobody at the scorer’s table caught the error.

The Cats’ blueliner skated three more shifts without incident until he finally had an offensive impact.  Mikkola picked up an assist on a goal by Jesper Boqvist that gave Florida an 8-0 lead with 11:09 remaining in the third period.  Even then, though, the teams played on.

It wasn’t until a stoppage came with 5:05 remaining in the game — over nine minutes since Mikkola’s game misconduct — that the officials realized their error. 

The league took the Panthers’ eighth goal off the board and issued a penalty to the Panthers for having an ineligible player on the ice.
  

 

Illegal Player Rule Breakdown

Mikkola’s illegal return to the ice is covered under Rules 68.5 and 70.4, which both state: 

If a penalized player returns to the ice from the penalty bench before his penalty has expired by his own error or the error of the Penalty Timekeeper, any goal scored by his own team while he is illegally on the ice shall be disallowed but all penalties imposed on either team shall be served as regular penalties.

An additional minor penalty must be served by this player in addition to the time remaining in his original penalty (this unexpired time is calculated from the time he left the penalty bench illegally).

In this case, with Mikkola already out of the game, it was treated like a bench minor penalty, ultimately served by Evan Rodrigues.

Rule 70.10 also calls for an automatic suspension:

Any player who has been ordered to the dressing room by the officials and returns to his bench or to the ice surface for any reason before the appropriate time shall be assessed a game misconduct and shall be suspended automatically without pay for the next ten (10) regular League and/or Play-off games.

The NHL opted to let this one slide.  Given the number of misconducts handed out and the general chaos of what ended up being one of the games with the highest penalty-minute totals all-time, it’s understandable that – either from the refs, penalty timekeeper, benches, or even the player – something was unintentionally lost in communication.  For what it’s worth, they also failed to catch it for nearly ten minutes of action, including multiple shifts and a drawn penalty.

Remember, the NHL officially added ‘common sense’ to the rule book for this season.

 

How Can They Disallow an Earlier Goal?

So how did they take away a goal that was scored nearly ten minutes earlier?  We’re used to goals only being wiped out at the next stoppage. Once the puck drops, we can’t go back and change it.   That’s absolutely the rule for video review and Coach’s Challenges, as spelled out in Rule 37.2:

Any potential goal requiring video review must be reviewed prior to and/or during the next stoppage of play. No goal may be awarded (or disallowed) as a result of a Video Review once play has resumed.

But that only applies to video review.  This was a different issue around player eligibility.

Thankfully, this was a preseason game.  We can be sure that the NHL will tighten things up and ensure that they’re confirming penalized players – especially ejected ones – don’t show up on the scoresheet after they’re tossed.  That might mean a quick check before dropping the puck after a goal, especially in penalty-heavy games like this one.

 

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen an ineligible player on the ice. Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Dmitri Voronkov returned to the ice after picking up a game misconduct last season. Referee Brian Pochmara caught tha violation right away, sent Voronkov back off the ice, and hit the Jackets with a bench minor penalty.  he error in that case was potentially attributed to a language issue. Curiously, that game also ended 7-0.

 

The Florida Panthers went on to a 7-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning to wrap up the preseason.  Referees for the game were Jean Hebert (#15) and Michael Markovic (#31), with Jonahan Deschamps (#80) and Jonny Murray (#95) on lines.