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Greg WyshynskiESPN
The National Hockey League apologized to the Vegas Golden Knights for an incorrect major penalty that opened the door to a four-goal rally with the San Jose Sharks and a final win in Game 7 of their first-round playoff series .
"The league is well off center and apologized," GM chief George McPhee said in Las Vegas on Thursday.
In the middle of the third period, as the Golden Knights were leading with a 3-0 lead, Sharks' center Joe Pavelski won a showdown with Vegas center Cody Eakin, who then set up a -control to the chest of Pavelski. Pavelski stumbled back on Vegas striker Paul Stastny, who hit him from his skates during the collision. Pavelski fell directly on the ice on the right side of his head, his helmet slamming loudly and began to bleed profusely. Brent Burns and other Sharks players surrounded their captain, calling the coaches out. Pavelski finally sat down and skated cautiously to the bench, his teammate Joe Thornton pressing a towel against his head.
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Referees Eric Furlatt and Dan O 'Halloran reported no penalty but ultimately decided that Eakin deserved a major penalty for cross-checking and misconduct with a time remaining at 10:47 as scheduled .
A major sanction for counter-checking, by rule, is "at the discretion of the referee depending on the seriousness of the contact" on the game. According to Vegas coach, Gerard Gallant, officials on the ice informed the Knights' Bench that they had the feeling that Eakin had hit Pavelski in the head with his stick. Replays showed that it was a stick against Pavelski's chest.
Thornton fired on the Sharks' bench after the incident, claiming they should score three goals for their dead teammate. San Jose eventually scored four goals in the five-minute major penalty session to take the lead and eventually won the game in overtime.
After the controversial call, Gallant said he spoke to Eakin on Thursday, and the Knights' Center said, "I'm fine, I have not done anything wrong and all is well."
The Sharks said Thursday that Pavelski was unsure for Friday's first match against Avalanche.
McPhee appreciated the NHL's apology and said the Golden Knights would not be obsessed with controversy.
"But as far as this organization is concerned, there will be no pity celebrations, we are not sorry for ourselves, things are going on in the games, we are going to take the mirror out and go the front and put a real good team on the ice next year.We will not take a big suitcase full of yesterday.This will not happen ", has t -he declares.
McPhee was asked if the organization could support a rule change that would allow major penalty appeals to be reviewed by the NHL Information Sessions Room or the Officials Supervisor. on the spot during the matches. "I think it's up to the league to figure out if they want to do something more, I have not thought about it enough," he said.
The Knights had the opportunity to end the Sharks on the 5th and 6th day without success. They then allowed four goals in less than five minutes on the power play in the third period and could not score goals in overtime to play the seventh game.
"You worry about this call coming in. And it happened, and it was unfortunate for us," McPhee said. "We played hard, we did our best, it did not work."
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