The NHL admitted that a Carolina Hurricanes goal should not have counted in their 6-5 win at the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday.
At 18:45 of the second period, Carolina's Vincent Trocheck scored to give the Hurricanes a 4-3 lead. Replays appeared to show he had entered the zone before the puck carrier, Dougie Hamilton, did.
The Blue Jackets used a coach's challenge to get the call overturned, but linesmen Tyson Baker and Jonny Murray reviewed the play and decided the goal would stand, resulting in a delay of game penalty for Columbus.
During the intermission, however, game officials informed both teams that the NHL had determined the challenge should have resulted in Carolina's goal being disallowed. As a result, the remaining 45 seconds of the delay of game penalty against Columbus that carried over to the third period were rescinded.
"I think that's the biggest joke I've ever seen," said Blue Jackets winger Patrik Laine, who had two goals in the loss. "So generous to take the [45] seconds off the clock. I've never seen that one before, but I guess there's always a first time."
Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said the officials came to the dressing room between periods and said "they messed up, and the power play is over" for the Hurricanes.
"I don't really understand it. I'm glad it worked for us," he said.
The NHL said in a statement that "during the review, a miscommunication occurred between the Video Replay Booth in Columbus, the Linesmen and the Situation Room and play resumed before all replays could be reviewed to confirm the off-side" and that "the challenge by Columbus should have resulted in the Carolina goal being disallowed."
Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno said "it's a bad look for the NHL" to have not gotten the call correct at the time of the review.
"It just confused everybody. It makes the linesmen look bad. It makes the refs look bad. It's just a bad look. Accidents happen, but that's why we have that replay there for a reason: So they don't [happen]. That's the hard part. Again, it's not why we lost the game," he said, before correcting himself. "Maybe you can say it is because we lost by a goal. It was a weird game tonight."
Foligno said that his coach, John Tortorella, inquired why the goal wasn't taken off the board if the call was made in error. Tortorella said after the game that he hadn't made sense of the situation and declined to comment further.
Columbus would tie the game at 2:08 of the third period, but Carolina scored the next two goals for the margin of victory. Ryan Dzingel, who assisted on Hamilton's eventual game-winning goal, said the bizarre situation was to be expected in these strange times.
"It's 2021. Anything is possible these days. We're not even shocked anymore to be honest," he said.