Let’s start with the controversial call in the final minute that erased Nikita Kucherov’s apparent tying goal. The league’s Situation Room determined that thirteen seconds before the goal, “Brandon Hagel directed the puck to Jake Guentzel with a hand pass …” The goal was taken off the board due to a Missed Game Stoppage Event.
This is Rule 38.1:
“In all Coach’s Challenge situations, the original call on the ice will be overturned if, and only if, a conclusive and irrefutable determination can be made on the basis of video evidence that the original call on the ice was clearly not correct. If a review is not conclusive and/or there is any doubt whatsoever as to whether the call on the ice was correct, the original call on the ice will be confirmed.”
In other words, the call needed to be obvious to overturn. Was it?
Pittsburgh defenseman Erik Karlsson played the puck from the corner of the Penguins defensive zone up the boards. Hagel was standing along the boards at the halfwall and tried to block the clearing attempt. The puck hit the glass and caromed at Hagel. He put up his left glove in a defensive motion. The puck hit the back of his glove and fell to the ice. It slid past referee Wes McCauley and Penguins forward Kevin Hayes before Guentzel touched it.
There’s no question that the puck hit Hagel’s glove and was touched next by Guentzel. No Pittsburgh player had possession in between.
If the hand pass rule happened to be black and white—like the offside rule is, for example—there’d be no debate. But the rule isn’t black and white. Here’s Rule 79.1 — Hand Pass:
“A player shall be permitted to stop or “bat” a puck in the air with his open hand, or push it along the ice with his hand, and the play shall not be stopped unless, in the opinion of the on-ice officials, he has directed the puck to a teammate, or has allowed his team to gain an advantage, and subsequently possession and control of the puck is obtained by a player of the offending team, either directly off any player or official. If, in the opinion of the on-ice officials, the puck has deflected off a player’s hand, and no advantage has been gained by the team, it will not constitute a violation for the purpose of this rule.”
The Situation Room stated Hagel “directed the puck” to Guentzel (first sentence, after “unless”). This implies intent. Based on how the play unfolded, it seems impossible to conclude Hagel intended the puck to go to Guentzel. Instead, the play seems to fall into the part of the rule detailed in the final sentence. It deflected off Hagel’s hand. Was an advantage gained? In one sense, an advantage is always gained, since the puck went to a teammate and not an opposing player. To me, however, an “advantage gained” would be a deflected puck that resulted in an immediate shot on goal or scoring chance (which this didn’t). But the Situation Room didn’t cite that part of the rule.
Adding salt to the wound was that this wasn’t even a Pittsburgh challenge. It came from the league because the goal was scored in the final minute. Had Kucherov scored five seconds earlier, the league couldn’t have intervened. Would the Penguins have challenged, knowing what we now know (that the goal would be overturned)? It seems unlikely that they would have risked losing the challenge and going on the PK when they were only a minute away from getting the game to overtime and gaining at least a point. But we’ll never know.
The story of the game through the first 38 minutes was twofold: the goaltending of Tristan Jarry and special teams play. Jarry was outstanding during the first period, when the Lightning generated numerous Grade-A scoring chances. The Penguins built a 3-0 lead until the late stages of the second–they netted goals on each of their first two power plays and went a perfect 4-4 on the penalty kill.
In the second period, the Lightning became less direct in their approach and committed turnovers as a result. Hagel committed one of those, and it led to Evgeni Malkin’s breakaway goal. Jon Cooper benched Hagel for the final 10 minutes of the period.
The Lightning got on the board late in the second when Darren Raddysh set up Kucherov for a backdoor tap-in at 18:46. Then in the third period, Hagel returned to the ice and tallied two goals to tie things up.
The game was less than three minutes away from overtime when the Penguins regained the lead. Karlsson delivered a high flip into the Tampa Bay end. Just inside the blue line, Charle-Edouard D’Astous attempted to glove it out to the neutral zone. But he didn’t make solid contact, and the Penguins intercepted it. A quick passing sequence led to Malkin’s open look from the right circle, and he buried the shot at 17:17.
That set the stage for what appeared to be Kucherov’s dramatic tying tally. Even after the goal was disallowed, the Lightning made a furious push and almost tied it in the closing seconds. But they couldn’t do so.
After winning seven straight, the Lightning have now dropped two in a row (both in regulation). They host the Islanders on Saturday.
Lightning Radio Three Stars of the Game (as selected by Phil Esposito):
- Evgeni Malkin — Penguins. Two goals and assist.
- Tristan Jarry — Penguins. 37 saves.
- Nikita Kucherov — Lightning. Goal and assist. 10 SOG and 19 shot attempts.
