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Greg WyshynskiESPN
SAN JOSE, Calif. – Gabriel Landeskog returned to the Colorado Avalanche Bench and sat just as his teammate Colin Wilson put the puck behind Sharks goalkeeper San Jose Sharks, Martin Jones. The seventh game Wednesday night was tied, 2-all, in the second period. The Avalanche has had a new life.
Or, thought Landeskog.
"To be honest with you, I was not thinking of anything, and then we wondered why they were not letting go of the puck," said the Avalanche captain.
The Sharks have a video coach, Dan Darrow, charged with quickly evaluating the pieces to determine if it is possible to meet the challenge of a coach. Most of the spectators watched Derick Brassard perform a one-handed pass in the Avalanche Offensive Zone and Nathan MacKinnon headed for the puck to set Wilson up. Darrow saw something else: Landeskog, standing at the door of the Avalanche bench, his skates seeming to land inside the offensive zone before the puck.
At Darrow's suggestion, the Sharks challenged the game with 12 minutes and 11 seconds left in the second period. If you lose the challenge, they would have been penalized for playing late.
"He's the first, every night, Ballsy call," Sharks coach Pete DeBoer said of Darrow.
Officials on the ice discussed the play with the NHL's War Room in Toronto.
The decision: no goal.
"I saw some reruns on the bench, and after what we saw, it could have gone one way or the other," Landeskog said.
The NHL did not explain the explanation after the Sharks' 3-2 win over the Avalanche elimination, which was unusual given the importance of the decision and the match.
"After reviewing all available reruns and consulting the linesman, the newspaper" Situation Room "determined that Gabriel Landeskog had not legally marked the blue line before the puck's entry into the offensive zone" said the league. "The decision was made in accordance with rule 83.3 (i)," All players of the offending team clean the area at the same time (skate contact with the blue line), allowing attacking players to return in the offensive zone. "
Landeskog's skate touched the blue line at one point and he was not offside. Then his skates were both returned to the right of the blue line as he slowly entered the Colorado bench, knocking him offside.
Having this type of offside called was unusual, Avalanche said.
"I would say it's pretty rare," said Colorado coach Jared Bednar, with an exasperated laugh. "In a game 7, even more.This player has nothing to do with the current game.This seems to be a minute detail, whether it is on the line or not.So it's strange "You know, it's strange, and that's something we could have done without tonight, no question."
The controversial arbitration in a Sharks Game 7 is officially a trend in these playoffs. They also eliminated the Vegas Golden Knights, thanks in part to a five-minute major penalty on which they scored four goals and for which the NHL finally apologized to Vegas.
The decision left Colorado depressed. Just under five minutes later, Joonas Donskoi scored to give the Sharks a 3-1 lead.
"We thought it was 2-2, then we got caught sleeping, and then it was 3-1," said Avalanche's defender Ian. Cole. "No matter what the call is, we have to keep playing, we have to learn that when things do not go the way we should, we need to get back on track as quickly as possible."
If this sounds like a tone of personal responsibility, it's because Avalanche took it after the seventh game. In the same locker room where Vegas striker, Jonathan Marchessault, said that the NHL should be "embarrassed" for the controversial major penalty of the Knights' Game 7. After the loss, Landeskog clinched the officials and blamed the decisive goal overthrown.
"It's a clumsy mistake, you know? Get off the ice.? If I could have done anything different about this game, I'd have jumped boards much faster, "said Landeskog.
"I hope the linesmen were right in. I have not been at all in that position, having to pass this call in a game 7. It's a tough job." C & # It's a hard call to make, I hope they're successful, I'm going to take the blame for that, and in the end they're my ice skates, but the game was much more than this. "
Landeskog and his teammates pointed to a series of other factors that contributed to their defeat in the seventh game. The unfortunate shoulder injury of MacKinnon during the first period limited his ice time; MacKinnon said his injury would require rehab, but that "they shot me with something and I came back." The return of injured captain Joe Pavelski boosted the Sharks and propelled them to a 2-0 lead in 11:35. The Avs pushed to the end when the score was 3-2, which gave them several good chances, but not the equalizer they needed.
"At the last minute, we could have tied it in. But nothing would come back," said MacKinnon, who ended up playing 20:58 in the seventh game. "It's unfortunate, but we felt the way East is shaking, and in the West too, we could have won the Cup this year." It was really like we could win everything. It was up for grabs, it sucks. "
The Avalanche has a young core of players and more prospects in perspective. Their window to win extends beyond this post-season.
Veteran players like Cole are hoping that the experiences of a seventh game loss – from frustrating frustrating goals to missed opportunities – are the learning experiences they will need to eventually win a series like this.
"There are always turning points at every game and I hope that if we can learn from them and better recognize these situations, then we may be able to continue to grow as a team," he said. he declares. "Because we have done a lot of culture this year."
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