Avalanche win with too many men on the ice, a breakdown
What Happened
The Colorado Avalanche and Tampa Bay Lightning are locked in an intense overtime battle in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final. With the Avalanche leading the series 2-1, the stakes are high as the two teams fight for the crucial fourth game. Nazem Kadri of the Avalanche breaks in on a partial breakaway, firing a shot that flutters past Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy and clanks off the back of the net. The puck becomes lodged in the netting, causing confusion as the officials try to locate it. Tampa Bay captain Steven Stamkos quickly dislodges the puck, denying the Avalanche the apparent game-winning goal. However, the Avalanche players begin celebrating, convinced the puck had fully crossed the goal line. The coaches on both benches intently study the replay, trying to determine if the goal should stand. Amidst the chaos, an Avalanche fan in the crowd is clearly elated, having seen the puck find its way into the net. After a review, the officials rule that the Avalanche have scored the game-winning goal. Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper is visibly distraught, stating that the goal should have been disallowed due to too many men on the ice for the Avalanche during the crucial scoring sequence. Cooper's assessment proves accurate, as the replay shows Colorado had six skaters on the ice when Kadri scored the winner. The Avalanche player who was supposed to be changing for the line change did not immediately leave the ice, creating the illegal situation. "It's a legal goal," Cooper says, his voice heavy with disappointment. "My heart breaks for the players because that's a penalty. And it was too many men on the ice. But we'll leave it at that." Despite the controversial nature of the winning goal, the Avalanche celebrate their 3-2 overtime victory, taking a commanding 3-1 lead in the series. The crowd in Denver erupts in joy, as the home team moves one step closer to capturing the coveted Stanley Cup.
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentThe Colorado Avalanche won the Stanley Cup,
but there was some controversy along the way.
The ending of Game 4, in particular, had a lot of hub hub.
I edited this a while ago.
I didn't get a chance to put it out.
I'm still putting it out because it's interesting.
Some people may not know about it.
Other people definitely do.
The people that were there sitting in the seats for sure know about it,
and maybe they got their seats from our friends at SeatGeek
who are sponsoring the video.
So it's in OT.
That's short for overtime.
There's eight minutes left.
The Avalanche are up in the series 2-1.
A 3-1 lead is good.
A pass, a move, a shot by Kadri.
It's going to go right under his arms, just a little floater,
then up in the net and get stuck on the back bar,
which confuses everybody a little bit because they're like,
hey, where is it?
But where'd it go?
No goal scored, no whistle.
They're searching for the puck.
Stamkos has found it.
He's going to go over there and sneakily just, like, look the other way.
I'm not doing anything.
I'm not doing anything, and knock it out of the net.
Look at that.
Just throws it out of the net.
So if you do find it, it's not in the net.
They're not falling for it.
They're like, that's a goal.
The Avalanche starts celebrating.
The Lightning start getting sad.
Look at that crowd.
Just happiness abounds.
The coaches all look down right away, which I found interesting.
Like, what are all the coaches and players looking at?
I didn't know that they have TVs down there, see, on the bench for replays.
So when they're confused, they just look down
and watch those, and they say, okay, I guess that's a goal.
Good job, good job.
This fan, oh, no.
Oh, my goodness.
Sad.
These guys happy.
And then afterwards, they're like, wait, that was fishy.
And the Lightning coach says it was a legal goal,
and his heart breaks for his players.
He said there was too many men on the ice.
Watch this.
That's six guys on the ice.
One, two, three, four, five, six.
When Kadri, the guy who scores it, first comes in contact,
with the puck, six guys.
Now, the rule is you can't get on the ice
until the guy you're replacing is five feet from the bench.
So there's a way that you see this screenshot on almost every goal,
and it's not illegal.
That's just kind of like if that guy that's clearly by the bench,
getting off the bench, is just taking his time,
just kind of standing around.
There's not affecting the play.
You see that all the time.
It's not really illegal.
So we got to go back and see when did they change.
And when the shot is.
Put in.
He's off the ice.
There's five.
But this is the line change that we saw.
So I believe Kadri thought this guy, I don't know his name.
Sorry, was coming to the bench.
So he jumps on to replace him, but he doesn't come to the bench.
That's not.
So right now there's there's that's definitely a bad line change,
which also happens and sometimes you let it go.
But the guy is right now.
No one's coming to the bench.
Eventually, here he comes.
So when they jumped,
it was not five feet, right?
But then you got to kind of think, like, did it really benefit them?
Is that what really helped him out?
And I'm going to say yes, actually, because look, there they are.
He is way more than five feet away and he's on the ice.
And let's see, what's five feet?
If you take this player and you lay him down vertical,
it's like six feet.
So maybe like where he's standing is five feet.
So if he had to wait for him to get all the way here.
Kadri would not be in position to get all the way over and catch that pass.
He would have been way later to that pass.
And this guy would have been the closest outlet pass.
And maybe they do that.
But yeah, I'm going to say this definitely helped them set up this play
because he should still.
Kadri, look at this guy that he changed for.
You're following me.
That's great.
That's the whole point of it.
So this guy over here is who he's changing for.
So he should be jumping the boards right now.
Yeah.
When this guy is about five feet away.
Instead, he's calling for the puck and then receiving it
and then scoring the winning goal.
So I got to say, I think they used an illegal line change to their advantage
to win the game and go up 3-1 in the Stanley Cup.
I think it was a botched call.
Nice goal, though.
And the confusion of where it went in.
That's fun as well.
Not a lot of the fans understood.
There's this one fan.
I wonder if I have the shot of him.
Yeah, right there.
You see?
Okay, I'll zoom in.
That's the one Avalanche fan that was watching very close and saw that go in.
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Congrats to the Avalanche.
Better team.
Although I do think you benefited from an illegal line change to win this one.
Two elements going at it.
Lightning and Avalanche.
They ever happen at the same time?
I don't know.