The National Hockey League has a major controversy on their hands stemming from a call made during Friday night’s game between the Los Angeles Kings and Edmonton Oilers, and it is one that could potentially play a pivotal role in determining who advances in the first round of that series.
On Friday night, the Oilers and Kings, who were already tied up at 1-1 on the series coming into this one, battled it out in a hard fought game that needed overtime to determine a winner. The game winning goal would come on a Kings powerplay just minutes into the overtime frame when Trevor Moore managed to beat Jeff Skinner to give the Kings a 2-1 lead in the series.
Here’s a replay of Moore’s game winning goal:
If you’re thinking that Moore’s goal doesn’t look all that controversial you would be right, there’s no doubt that the puck crossed the goal line and there’s not much of a case to be made for goaltender interference. The issue isn’t with the goal itself but with a high stick that occurred only moments before, one that the Oilers feel should have resulted in a stoppage of play.
The alleged high stick in question came from the Kings’ Gabe Vilardi, and here’s a look at the replay as shown on the broadcast last night:
The NHL’s situation room in Toronto would take several looks at the play but, according to several NHL insiders, the league would determine that there were no camera angles that showed Vilardi had conclusively touched the puck.
The league’s ruling has been called into question with some arguing that the replay does show conclusive contact between stick and puck, arguing that the momentum of both shifted at the moment of contact. When viewed in slow motion, Vilardi does appear to look up after the puck makes contact with his stick. If the player felt that contact and reacted by looking up, it would lend credence to the argument that contact was made.
A close up of this same replay also appears to show the shift in momentum from both puck and stick.
Whether the NHL got this one right or wrong won’t change anything now for either the Kings or the Oilers, but it will certainly be discussed at great length should the Kings emerge victorious in this series.
Did the NHL make the right call on Friday night? Or could this prove to be a series defining mistake from the league?
