The on-ice officials thought Marco Rossi batted the puck into the Edmonton net with his glove. The Situation Room in Toronto saw it differently.
Rossi’s third-period goal for the Vancouver Canucks – which cut Edmonton’s lead to 8-5 during the Canucks’ furious comeback in a 9-7 loss at Rogers Arena on Thursday night – was initially called a goal by referee Pierre Lambert. After he spoke with the other officials, they ruled that Rossi had gloved the puck in, changing the on-ice call to ‘no goal.’
The Situation Room initiated a video review and overturned the revised call, determining the puck had deflected off Rossi’s shoulder and entered the net legally. The NHL’s official explanation:
“The Referee’s initially ruled that Marco Rossi batted the puck into the Edmonton net with his glove. The Situation Room then initiated a video review to further examine the play and determined that the puck deflected off Rossi’s shoulder and entered the Edmonton net in a legal fashion.”
The play came at 4:43 of the third period. Rossi was battling for position in front of the net when the puck hit him and went in. A puck batted in with the hand is disallowed; a puck deflected off a player’s body in any manner – shoulder included – counts.
78.4 Scoring a Goal – If an attacking player has the puck deflect into the net, off his skate or body, in any manner, the goal shall be allowed. The player who deflected the puck shall be credited with the goal.
78.5 Disallowed Goals – Apparent goals shall be disallowed by the Referee … when the puck has been directed, batted or thrown into the net by an attacking player other than with a stick. When this occurs, if it is deemed to be done deliberately, then the decision shall be NO GOAL. A goal cannot be scored when the puck has been deliberately batted with any part of the attacking player’s body into the net.
The play cannot be challenged, but it can be reviewed through a league-initiated review under Rule 37.
37.3 Goal Situations Subject to Video Review – The following situations are subject to review by the NHL Situation Room… Puck deliberately directed, batted, or thrown into the net by an attacking Player by any means (and with any part of his body) other
than with his stick;
Rossi’s goal helped cut the deficit, but the Vancouver Canucks ultimately fell to the Edmonton Oilers 9-7. Officials for the game were referees Pierre Lambert (#25) and Michael Markovic (#31) with linespersons Bevan Mills (#53) and Jeremy Faucher (#97).
