We saw a bizarre sequence in the game between the Colorado Avalanche and the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday, as the Avalanche almost had a goal taken away due to a goalie mistake during a review.
The Avalanche held a 3-2 lead halfway through the second period and were on a power play when Kraken forward Yanni Gourde dumped the puck into the Avalanche zone. The puck slid along the boards across the ice to Artturi Lehkonen, who collected it in the Avalanche’s offensive zone.
From there, Colorado set up its power play, and 40 seconds later, Mikko Rantanen scored to make it a 4-2 game. But the Kraken decided to challenge the goal for offside, arguing that Lehkonen had entered the zone before the puck. And they were correct.
Good goal after two offside reviews
The officials reviewed the play, determined that Lehkonen was offside, and even announced it to the crowd. The two teams lined up for a face-off, but after some argument from the Avalanche’s head coach, the officials returned to the screen to review the play again.
It turned out they had overlooked one important detail: it wasn’t a Colorado player who had passed the puck to Lehkonen. According to the rules, offside should be ignored if a player “carries, passes, or plays the puck back into his own defending zone while an opposing player is in that zone.”
After the second review, the goal was allowed to stand, and the Kraken received a two-minute minor penalty for the failed challenge.
Top NHL insider Elliotte Friedman perfectly described the entire sequence in a post on X, shown below. Fans were stunned by the bizarre incident, but ultimately, everyone was glad the officials didn’t mess this one up completely.
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