POST-GAME: Coach's challenge comes up big for the Oilers

EDMONTON, AB -With the Sharks circling, it was the Oilers video staff that tossed the team a lifeline.
A hat-trick of coach's challenges took three goals off the board for San Jose and played its part in Edmonton's 5-4 overtime victory over the Sharks on Monday night. The review process between Video Coach Jeremy Coupal, Video Coordinator Noah Segall and Head Coach Jay Woodcroft has been near perfect for the Oilers this season with only a single challenge that hasn't swayed their way all year.
"We have two video coaches that do a really good job for us, and we have a process that we believe in," Woodcroft said. "We spend a lot of time studying what gets called around the league. We ask a lot of questions. In the end, when you do your work like that, when the pressure time comes, we have a process that we follow. Tonight we were proven right on a few, but it wouldn't happen without Jeremy and Noah."
The Sharks looked to have opened the scoring just 1:14 into the game when Tomas Hertl found the time to pick the top corner on Jack Campbell, but upon a further look from upstairs, it was apparent that Alexander Barbanov lost control of the puck and entered the Oilers zone offside.
The Oilers were also dinged by the review process in the first period when Zach Hyman had his seventh overturned goal of the season after he was deemed to have interfered with James Reimer on his taken-back first-period tally.
A later goaltender interference call on the Sharks' Andreas Johnsson and an offside call on Noah Gregor on a Sharks two-on-one set the NHL record for the most goals overturned in a single National Hockey League game since the NHL review process began in 2015-16 with four.

"It's a great job by the video staff. They had the eye there and it was great on their part," Nurse said. "They have great attention to detail and I think a good awareness of how things are getting called in the league, because sometimes, you think things are going to come back and it's not. So, they have a good awareness of when to make the call and when not to."
The video staff has the unenviable task of making game-altering decisions. A failed challenge puts their team in the harrowing position of just having conceded a goal and now having to defend a power play, so near perfection is the expectation. Thus far, they have delivered.
The assist from the eye in the sky was greatly appreciated by the Oilers players on the evening, who can now rest a little bit easier knowing they have secured the two points.
"There were some big calls there. Our video guys and our coaching staff are right on it. There's really no hesitation," Nick Bjugstad said on the reviews. "That's a big part of the game, and we rely on those guys to help us, and they did the night, so I'm thankful for that."
Mattias Ekholm, who matched his Swedish counterpart Erik Karlsson by scoring twice on the night for the Oilers, is well aware of Jeremy Coupal's body of work stemming from his time in Nashville.

"It's been a comfort for me. He was probably the guy I knew the best coming here, and I don't think those guys get credit enough with what they do," Ekholm said. "They're (putting in) long hours, they grind it out, and if you look at it, what's their margin of error? It's an offside by inches, right? And because you're supposed to always be right when you challenge, it's kind of not so rewarding job at times and pretty hard because you always have to be right."
"They won us the game tonight," he added. "It was great to see, and our video coach team here is tremendous. So good on them."
While the Oilers are grateful for the work that the staff put in during Monday's game, the video staff's work is just beginning. The next task is dissecting the flaws in the Oilers game that led to the non-goals being scored in the first place. Although the Sharks tallies did not count on the scoreboard, the goals were overturned by the slimmest of margins and marked a departure from the Oilers recent blueprint for defensive success.
"I don't think we turn a blind eye to what led up to that chance against or whatnot," Woodcroft said. "It was an eyelash here or an eyelash there, and you're fishing it out of your net. So, like I said, there's things that we can fix in our game tonight."