In a previous generation of hockey, intentionally knocking the net off its moorings could preserve a win. In the modern NHL, dislodging the net can cost you a goal. Or a game.
That was a hard lesson the Nashville Predators learned in St. Paul on Wednesday.
Marcus Johansson’s overtime winner for the Minnesota Wild was declared a goal after Predators goalie Justus Annunen appeared to use his left arm and leg to knock the net off kilter just as Johansson and Kirill Kaprizov were bearing down on the crease.
Instead of whistling the play dead, the referee on the scene signaled for a goal, giving the Wild a 3-2 win. He did so again a few minutes later after a video review by the league’s war room in Toronto.
How?
Per the official rule book of the NHL, rule 63.7 states that a goal can be awarded if the goal post is displaced by a defending player if the attacking player has an imminent scoring opportunity before the net is moved. If this happens, the referee can award a goal even if the puck never crossed the goal line, if they determine that dislodging the net prevented a goal.
Even Johansson was confused by all of it afterward.
“I think I saw something the other night, or not too long ago, where a goal was scored where the net was off,” he said. “I don’t know, honestly. I was standing there, the puck was there, so yeah, it felt good.”
As could reasonably be expected, there was a differing opinion in the Predators locker room.
“Obviously, one of the refs who made the call on the ice thought our goaltender pushed the net off on purpose and therefore denied an opportunity for them to score,” said Steven Stamkos in a postgame TV interview. He had forced overtime with a one-timer that went in the Wild net with just .3 seconds left in regulation.
“There’s two sides to everything. Our side thought obviously the net came off, but he missed the shot,” Stamkos said. “And if the net wasn’t off, at the angle it was at, the puck would’ve (gone) behind the net.”
Previously, dislodging the net in most cases meant a whistle and a faceoff. In some cases, a penalty for delay of game or even a penalty shot could be called if the dislodging was deemed intentional. But until a decade ago or so, there was no rule allowing a goal to be awarded without the net in place.
This sometimes led to what can best be described as “shenanigans” in close games.
Long before he was a U.S. Congressman from Duluth, Pete Stauber was a sophomore forward at Lake Superior State. With the Lakers battling St. Lawrence in the 1988 NCAA title game in Lake Placid, N.Y., and the game tied in the final minutes of regulation, Stauber potentially thwarted a goal by the Saints. He forcefully, and clearly intentionally, dislodged the net during a scramble where the puck was loose around the Lakers crease.
No penalty was called on the play. The game went to overtime, and Stauber helped set up the Lakers’ game-winner for the Michigan school’s first national title.
More recently, University of Michigan goalie Erik Portillo had a habit of dislodging the net during Gophers scoring opportunities when the Wolverines would play at 3M Arena at Mariucci. In the 2023 Big Ten title game, when it happened for the second or third time in the opening period, Portillo was penalized for delay of game in a contest the Wolverines won anyway.
At the time, Michigan officials claimed that the design of the net anchors at Minnesota’s arena made them susceptible to come off the moorings more easily. But it is worth noting that since Portillo moved on to pro hockey — he got one game for the Los Angeles Kings last season — the nets in Dinkytown seem to stay put.
As for the Wild, they will gladly take the two points, and the lesson about what intentionally dislodging the net can cost you in the modern NHL.
“I’m happy until it happens to me,” Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson said with a smile.
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