Skookum Jim wrote on Fri, 16 December 2022 12:49

Oh.. and ANOTHER thing.. I didn't realize it when I watched the replay on the OT goal.. it was freaking TORONTO that called the rink to intervene to insist on the offside review.. has that ever happened for an offside? .. looks like a case of the Toronto goofs getting bored sitting in their box all night and decided to do the mental gymnastics to contort an explanation into fitting an offside call.. and determine the outcome of a game.. McDavid had clear possession crossing the line and never lost it, he took his stick off the puck for an instant so that O'Reilly's stick check didn't get transmitted to the puck.. but he was always in control of the puck.. Game was over. NHL doing what the NHL does.

McDavid never touched the puck in the offensive zone to establish control. If he had, he would have been safely onside. Parayko chipped the loose puck away, so Connor became offside at that point. Drai got the puck so the whistle should have been blown then, but the linesmen have been instructed to let the plays finish and let T.O. decide. The rule was applied correctly.

The Twitter link in an earlier post shows a very similar play where the attacking player actually touches the puck in the offensive zone, thereby retaining control and staying onside.

But, hey, giving up a shorthanded goal to the worst PK in the league on a complete breakdown in the Oilers' end only gets us 1/2 as angry as getting T.O.'d. That was a joke of an effort with 30 seconds left. Embarrassing. All they had to do was anything other than what they did and the game was over. Shoot, pass, skate, over. But nope.

Restored: "We're sucking hind banana here." - Pat Quinn, Jan 18, 2010

"...the Oilers have been rebuilding for so long that it’s hard not to be cynical." - NBC's Ryan Dadoun Jan 2, 2015