EDMONTON, Alberta — Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice wouldn’t have questioned it. Edmonton Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch thought he was a no-brainer. One thing was clear: The offside video review that disallowed Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov’s second-period goal was a turning point in Edmonton’s 5-1 victory in game six of the finals. of the Stanley Cup on Friday night.
Barkov appeared to score 10 seconds after Edmonton’s Adam Henrique gave the home team a 2-0 lead just 46 seconds into the second period. But the Oilers bench disputed the goal, saying the Panthers were offside. After a video review, the referees determined that Florida’s Sam Reinhart “preceded the puck in the offensive zone and was in an offside position prior to the Panthers’ goal,” taking Barkov’s goal off the board and preserving the lead. from 2-0.
The Oilers were in control of the game at that point. The ruling prevented Florida from stealing any of the momentum.
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“At that point you’re looking for momentum,” Maurice said. “Shots are 11-2 in the first half, so we need something to move forward. It would have been a spark for us for sure.”
Edmonton would add a third goal with 1:40 left in the period. Florida defenseman Gustav Forsling had a failed one-time attempt blocked by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins toward center ice, where winger Zach Hyman found the puck, ran in and beat goalie Sergei Bobrovsky for his 16th goal of the playoffs.
“You think about the game and there are a couple of opportunities to change the momentum,” Knoblauch said. “One was in the second half, when they scored offside, it was 2-1 instead of 2-0. That’s the moment that could change the flow of the game.”
From there, the Oilers became just the third team in NHL history to force a Game 7 after falling behind 3-0 in the Stanley Cup Final.
After the game, Panthers players lamented the disallowed goal.
“It’s a shame it didn’t go the way we wanted it to,” Florida winger Carter Verhaeghe said. “I don’t know. I’m sure it was the right decision if they’re watching a million replays.”
Barkov said: “Well, it was offside, so it doesn’t count. We had our chances after that. We had chances to get a goal, but then it was 3-0.”
Maurice said that based on the angles he saw from the Panthers’ bench, he wouldn’t have challenged the goal if the roles had been reversed.
“The linesman informed me that it was the last clip they got where they made the decision that shows he was offside,” Maurice said. “I don’t have them, so the video I got from my bank… It bothered me after the call because of what I see and what my video person looks at.
“There was no way I would have challenged that. There’s no way I thought you could conclusively say it was offside. I don’t know what (food) the Oilers get. I don’t know what the league gets. I just know that when “I should have challenged that based on what I saw, I wouldn’t have questioned it.”
Knoblauch was 4-for-6 in the regular season thanks to the coach’s challenges. The process begins with video coaches Noah Segall and Mike Fanelli reviewing available streams. They radio assistant coach Mark Stuart, and the coaches discuss the decision to challenge.
Knoblauch disagreed with Maurice’s take on the ruling.
“I actually didn’t think it was that close,” Knoblauch said. “We were actually going to penalize him right away and we had a little more time to review it. The only question was that maybe there wasn’t the right video. In my opinion, he was definitely offside, but I guess you never know.” . “It was something I wanted to challenge almost immediately when I saw it.”
It was yet another moment where a ray of hope faded for the Panthers. They have lost three games in a row by a combined score of 18-5 and face becoming the second team in NHL history to lose the Stanley Cup Final after building a 3-0 lead.
Florida had a long meeting after the game with the coaching staff, management and players.
“We need to prepare for game seven,” Barkov said. “Obviously, no one is happy to lose the game, but that’s it. We know we can improve and we need to improve.”
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