Montreal Canadiens: Tough to Admit, but Officials Made Right Call on Overtime Goal

The Montreal Canadiens have found many different ways to lose hockey games this season.

Sometimes it is blowing leads, but usually it is by just falling behind by two or three and not having nearly enough offence to climb back from the slimmest of margins.

A few times head scratching decisions by on-ice and off-ice officials alike were the root cause of a game not going the Canadiens way.

Of course, there have been plenty of games where a lineup that features something closer to a healthy Laval Rocket team than the Montreal Canadiens as well. The team has played 37 games so far this season and dressed 37 different players as well. That means they have had to use 17 players who were not in the opening night lineup and we aren’t even halfway through the year.

While last night’s game seemed like another to blame on the officials, a closer inspection would show they made the right call…. eventually.

A late night start to the game made the lengthy video review at the end feel like an eternity. It also looked like there were three different reasons not to count the overtime goal by Philip Kurashev that was eventually upheld as the game winner.

First, the net ended up well behind the goal line and it appeared to be off its moorings before the puck crossed the goal line. Further inspection would prove that the net was in fact off before the puck crossed the line, but that actually isn’t a reason on its own to disallow a goal.

As mentioned in the video review that was posted online, the NHL determined by Rule 63.7 that “in the event a goal post is dislodged by a defensive player, prior to the puck crossing the goal line between the normal position of the goal posts, the referee shall allow the goal to stand.”

So, “the net was off” isn’t a legitimate reason to disallow this goal because clearly Mike Hoffman knocked the net off.

Also, it appeared that Kurashev made contact with Samuel Montembault, and fans may have wanted the goal called back due to goalie interference. However, it is obvious that Hoffman makes most of the contact with Montembeault, and the only reason Kurashev bumps Montembeault’s pad is because he was thrown into the goalie by Hoffman.

So, goalie interference is an argument that doesn’t hold any water here either.

What about the offside? On first viewing it certainly looks like Kurashev is offside just before the goal.

However, a closer look at the player crossing the blue line shows that his feet do cross the blue line ahead of the puck, but since he is in possession of the puck (for a split second) before his feet fully cross the blue line, it was not offside. Rule 83.1 states, “a player controlling the puck who crosses the blue line with his feet ahead of the puck shall not be offside provided he has possession of the puck prior to his skates crossing the front edge of the blue line.”

The NHL posted a video explaining the review, and if you stop the video right at the 4:41 mark, you will see Kurashev has received the puck, so he is in possession, and he still has his skate over the blue line, so he is not offside.

The Canadiens had three fairly legitimate complaints in the moments after this goals was scored. But, like so many times this season, the Canadiens went down swinging on three quick strikes because the Blackhawks forward did nothing wrong on this play.