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The Vancouver Canucks are headed back to Nashville for Game 6 after a 2-1 loss at home.
One of Game 5’s most crucial moments came in the third period when the Nashville Predators scored the tying goal during a mad scramble in front.
Canucks goalie Arturs Silovs, who had been perfect up to this point, was on his back as the puck squirted through him into the net.
The referees signaled for a good goal, quickly checked over it, and got ready to drop the puck. The Canucks didn’t challenge the ruling and the game continued. The Predators added on the game-winning goal a few minutes later.
“I’m sure they took a look at it,” said Roman Josi about his controversial tying goal. “I saw it go in and that’s all that matters.”
The Predators tie it on the power play. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/kfng2CW6lN
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 1, 2024
Silovs said after the game that he felt like he was interfered with, although he couldn’t be certain which player initiated contact.
“Yeah, I didn’t see who but I felt like someone ran into me,” commented the Latvian goaltender.
If the contact was deemed to be started by a Canucks player, the goal would have stood upon review.
Canucks bench boss Rick Tocchet had a chance to look at the play but he and his staff decided not to challenge for goalie interference.
“If we’re down 2-1 maybe but it’s a 50/50,” said Tocchet about the crucial moment after the game. “At that point, we just looked at it, I don’t know what the NHL would do on that one, I don’t. If I don’t know, it’s 1-1, we thought about it but I thought it was 50/50 personally.”
If the Canucks had challenged and failed, the goal would’ve counted and they would have been assessed a two-minute minor penalty.
Challenges are notoriously fickle in the NHL and while it’s impossible to know what the decision would have been on this play, some other examples from across the league show that there doesn’t need to be a lot of contact for a goal to be overturned.
The Tampa Bay Lightning had two goals taken away last night, something defenceman Nikita Zadorov referenced after the game.
The Lightning score but it was overturned for goalie interference 👀#NHL | #GoBolts | #TimeToHunt
pic.twitter.com/pPsG2k6WlP— The Cam & Strick Podcast (@CamandStrick) April 29, 2024
“I don’t know, I haven’t watched it. I saw the Tampa game last night, there was lots of questionable stuff in that, it’s hard to know when you’re pushed in, when you’re not pushed in,” said Zadorov. “I feel like they’ve got to do a better job at explaining to us what we can do in front of the net or not.”
The Canucks will be disappointed with this result although they still had a chance to win the game after the challenge. With the series headed back to Nashville, this no-decision could stand as a crucial turning point.