Penalty on Vegas "stolen" game 7

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According to Sharks coach Peter DeBoer, "the craziest game I have ever seen," the Knights had a 3-0 lead in the third period. Goalkeeper Marc-André Fleury stopped everything. A second rendezvous with the Colorado Avalanche seemed inevitable. But the Sharks had already shown in this series that there was no fatality, rising from a 3-1 series deficit and winning a seventh game after a double overtime victory in Vegas.

In the middle of the third period, Pavelski won a faceoff against Eakin, who then made a counter-control of the Sharks' center. Pavelski stumbled back and collided with Vegas striker Paul Stastny, who knocked him out of his skates. Pavelski fell directly on the ice on the right side of the head, his helmet slamming loudly and began to bleed. Brent Burns and other Sharks players surrounded their captain, calling the coaching staff. Pavelski finally sat down and skated cautiously to the bench, his teammate Joe Thornton pressing a towel against his head. He was finally helped in the locker room.

Neither Umpire Eric Furlatt nor Dan O Halloran reported penalty during the game. But while Pavelski was being treated on the ice, an important call was made: Eakin saw a major penalty for cross-checking and misconduct with a match at 10:47 remaining in the period.

A major sanction for counter-control, by rule, is "at the discretion of the referee depending on the severity of the contact" on the game.

"[Referee Eric] Furlatt says, "It does not look bad." If it looks pretty bad, then clearly you have not seen it, "Marchessault said. It's a face-off. It's a boost. Probably 50% of the wagers, players – if they lose – probably give a little check, right? If you want to call the counter-control, fine, call it. It's a counter-check. But seriously, he falls badly. This is unfortunate. Do not get me wrong: I'm a big fan of Joe Pavelski. And he went down and I really hope he's fine and he's coming back. But this call changes the whole result. This changes all our future and the result of this year. It's a joke. I would be embarrassed if I were them. "

The NHL, through a pool reporter in Game 7, issued a statement from referee supervisor of the series, Don Van Massenhoven: "The referees imposed a penalty of control for an offense that caused a major injury, a major penalty. "

The pool reporter asked the pool manager who had made the call, or the process that made it a major penalty, to have been denied.

Vegas coach Gerard Gallant said after the match that officials on the ice described a scene that did not happen.

"They said that he had checked it on the face and, as we all saw, it did not happen," Gallant said. "There was no stick that would have hit his face." When Stastny came out, he fell and banged his head against the ice.This is the part Unfortunate of that, it was a terrible call, we all saw it – it's a pity that we end up losing because of that because we control the hockey game. "

The frustration of a team is an opportunity for another team, even if the odds were against it. According to MoneyPuck.com, the Sharks had a 1.19% chance of winning the game when they received the five-minute major.

But probabilities can not always explain variables, such as how San Jose used Pavelski's injury as a rallying cry on his bench.

"You see our leader collapsing." It's cold on the ice, and it looks like he's just getting a little tight. "" Hard to see, man. "Really hard to see." said Logan Couture, center of the Sharks. "But you have to give credit to [Thornton]. As soon as we arrived on this bench, he said, "You go out and you score three goals now." And I mean, when a guy who's played 20 years orders you like that, directs you, you have to go do it. So we did it. We have four. "

Vegas was starting to lose control only six seconds after the shot on goal, when Couture sent a runner that Fleury tried to increase to 3-1. Tomas Hertl followed this at 10:09, deviating from Erik Karlsson's split-point shot, with Fleury fully screened by Timo Meier. Couture struck again at 12:53, and the Knights advance evaporated in 3 minutes and 33 seconds. Then there was Kevin Labanc, who earlier in the match was handcuffed by a bouncing puck and missed a gaping open net, converting for a 4-3 lead.

Four minutes and seven seconds of power play. Four goals, and a lead in the seventh game, thanks to a power play that had been 4 to 25 in the game. It was the first time of all the series that a leading team ended up in a match in which she was standing.

But that's the kind of effort the Sharks did when their captain broke down.

"He is the heart of this team and seeing it fall like that and suffering like that has been heartbreaking for us," Thornton said of Pavelski. "This power play unit won us the match, but you know, the boys got together and they said:" This is for Pav. " We love him so. It was just a question of will and we wanted it. "

The Knights, however, had a rally on their left, getting a Marchessault goal with 47 seconds left in regulation time, with Fleury looking for an extra skater. The match went into overtime, where Fleury (43 saves) and San Jose goalkeeper Martin Jones (34 saves) gave clinics respectively. But spare striker Barclay Goodrow, on his second extra shift, scored at 18:19 to eliminate the Knights.

The Sharks are only the second team in the history of the NHL to overcome a deficit of three goals in the third period and win the seventh game, joining the Boston Bruins in 2013.