This is easily one of the most bizarre goals that has happened so far this year. Colorado Avalanche forward Matt Duchene entered the zone about a foot ahead of this dump in, and seemed surprised when the whistle never blew to declare him offsides. Duchene then corralled the puck and fired it past Nashville Predators goalie Chris Mason to give the Avs a 3-1 lead. Obviously Nashville Predators players were irate over the ruling, and the wacky 2nd period fireworks weren’t over, as the period had six more goals scored in it after Duchene’s goal.
Now, Duchene looks to be offsides, but if you watch the video closely, you see the puck go off Predators defenseman Scott Hannan’s stick (#22) and forward Craig Smith’s skate (#15). The portion of the offsides rule that applies to this play is as follows:
If a player legally carries or passes the puck back into his own defending zone while a player of the opposing team is in such defending zone, the off-side shall be ignored and play permitted to continue.
Clearly the linesman ruled that the Predators brought the puck back into their own zone and therefore it was legal for Duchene to be in the zone, pick up the puck and score. Whether this is the correct interpretation of the rule is up for debate, but with how quickly the game moves, it is understandable where this mistake could have occurred, especially since it hit two Predators players. This play was not reviewable, because offsides is not a reviewable offense.
UPDATE:
Looks like the league has admitted to it being a blown call and that the deflections don’t count enough as “possession.”
[Eye on Hockey]