Golden Knights again on wrong end of NHL replay decisions in Cup Final win

Vegas Golden Knights forward William Karlsson believes the best strategy when waiting on the NHL replay center to make a decision on a review process to just assume it’s not going to work out in the Knights’ favor.

“It’s better that way,” he joked. “So you don’t hope too much.”

Karlsson’s pessimism has been validated by the way the replay decisions have worked out through three games of the series against the Carolina Hurricanes.

All three coach’s challenges in the series have gone against the Golden Knights and had a major impact on the outcome of at least one game while extending another.

The replay booth has been working overtime in the Stanley Cup Final, and the officials charged with rendering the final verdicts probably won’t be getting any comped dinners in Las Vegas anytime soon.

That’s not to say they had a bad night on Saturday when their decisions appeared mostly correct.

Plus, the Knights eventually survived 5-4 in double overtime when Shea Theodore’s shot hit the back wall and bounced in at 5:38 of the second extra period to negate any potential controversy. But the game likely would have ended sooner if not for a couple calls that went against the Knights.

While the two decisions handed down to overturn Knights goals during the second period of Saturday night’s Game 3 were far less controversial than the one that upheld a no-goal call on a potential go-ahead tally in Thursday’s loss, the T-Mobile Arena crowd certainly wasn’t in the mood to discuss the details as the boos drowned out each call.

Knights coach John Tortorella, however, didn’t have a problem with the rulings on Saturday.

“They were the right calls tonight,” he said. “Both of those goals, it was the right call. But the one the other night was wrong. I don’t care what any of you guys say. It was wrong. The puck is there and it was poked.”

The streak of rulings could potentially have even made Tortorella hesitant to challenge Carolina’s game-tying goal in the final two minutes of regulation on Saturday night even if he insists it did not.

It wouldn’t likely have been successful, but there was a ton of traffic in the crease and plenty of contact on Knights goaltender Carter Hart initiated by both teams as the puck trickled into the net.

Tortorella and his assistant coaches took a long look at the replays on tablets behind the bench before ultimately deciding to not challenge.

His decision to challenge the third-period call that was ultimately unsuccessful on Thursday gave the Hurricanes a power play they converted to take a late lead.

It’s possible that was still on his mind when making the call to play on after Saturday’s game-tying goal, not wanting to put further strain on his team by putting the Hurricanes on the power play in a tie game in the final two minutes of regulation, though he insists his decision was made independent of the other calls in the series.

“It was the right call,” he said of not challenging. “But it’s ironic what happened tonight, huh? I think they made the right calls tonight. They made the wrong call the other night.

“I just wish we had the rule that if the puck wasn’t tied up and it went in the net, it’s a good goal. But I guess it’s different. I have to figure that one out.”

As it was, the Knights had already seen two challenges go against them earlier in Saturday’s game.

Both nullified goals, the first of which came just 35 seconds into the second period when Mark Stone got sprung alone in the offensive zone off a tip pass from Brett Howden.

Carolina challenged for offside and the goal was taken off the board. It was a clear and obvious call that met the “conclusive and irrefutable” standard in the rulebook.

“Video review determined that Vegas’ Brett Howden preceded the puck into the offensive zone and was in an off-side position prior to Mark Stone’s goal,” the ruling from the league read. “As a result, the play should have been stopped for an ‘Off-Side’ infraction; where this standard is met, the goal will be disallowed.”

The game was still scoreless 3:25 later when Jack Eichel appeared to break the tie, only to see Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour challenge again.

The league once again ruled in the Hurricanes’ favor, deciding Ivan Barbashev had interfered with Carolina goaltender Frederik Andersen as he skated by just in front of the crease.

Barbashev appeared to clip Andersen’s helmet as he tried to avoid him, but while it seemed as if a lengthy review and discussion may be in order, the verdict was rendered almost immediately.

“Video review determined Vegas forward Ivan Barbashev interfered with Frederik Andersen, impairing his ability to play his position in the crease before the puck entered the net,” a statement issued by the league read. “The decision was made in accordance with Rule 69.1 which states, in part, “Goals should be disallowed only if: (1) an attacking player, either by his positioning or by contact, impairs the goalkeeper’s ability to move freely within his crease or defend his goal.”

It didn’t appear the decisions would have much of an impact as the Knights went on to score four more goals that would count in the second period.

But Carolina’s historic rally from a four-goal deficit to force overtime brought new attention to the decisions, which both appeared correct.