It wouldn’t have been out of turn if Minnesota Wild fans winced in disbelief when the Nashville Predators tied the game with 0.3 seconds left to go in their game Tuesday night. With the way the season has started, a game-tying goal at the death would have been par for the course for a team that has struggled out of the gate. However, overtime turned in their favor on another bizarre goal for the Wild.
After Marcus Johansson stripped old friend Erik Haula in the Wild’s own zone, they broke out with a numbers advantage. Kirill Kaprizov and Brock Faber played catch before Kaprizov zipped a pass over to Johannson at the far post. As the pass came across the ice, Nashville goaltender Justus Annunen knocked one side of the net off of its peg. The other stayed on and Johansson’s first attempt hit the post. He gathered the puck up and backhanded the puck over the goalline and off of the endboards.
So, why wasn’t the play blown dead when the net came off of its moorings? The ref on the ice determined that the net was dislodged by a defensive player while the Wild had a scoring chance, and the situation room upheld the ruling citing rule 63.7:
“In the event that the goal post is displaced, either deliberately or accidentally, by a defending player, prior to the puck crossing the goal line between the normal position of the goalposts, the Referee may award a goal. In order to award a goal in this situation, the goal post must have been displaced by the actions of a defending player, the attacking player must have an imminent scoring opportunity prior to the goal post being displaced, and it must be determined that the puck would have entered the net between the normal position of the goal posts."
Nashville was less than happy with the ruling (as one could imagine) with Steven Stamkos believing that Johansson wouldn’t have had the second opportunity if the net hadn’t been moved,
“If the puck goes in right away, no problem if the net is off. But he missed the net, and the puck actually bounced back to him because the net was sideways.”
Johansson had a different outlook, telling reporters,
“I didn’t know really what happened. Didn’t know if we were supposed to celebrate or not,” Johansson said. “Just kind of didn’t know what the call was going to be. When it’s pushed off like that, maybe it’s the right thing to do. But thankfully I put it in even though the net wasn’t there.”
It’s the second bizarre goal of the season for the Wild, following Faber’s over-the-net-off-the-glass-off-the-goalie tally from a week ago. Much like that one, the Wild can hope that the goal sparks a little run. The win over the Predators gave them a two-game winning streak for the first time this season. They also move within three points of the second wild card spot in the Western Conference.
There are a few teams to leap over to get there, but with Mats Zucarello hopefully back in the line-up zone, and an improved focus on limiting turnovers and preventing goals, they could go on a bit of a run to zip up the standings. They can’t keep relying on lucky bounces, but it never hurts when they get them.