Hockey can be a game of inches and sometimes less than that. Depending on who you ask, it can also be cruel, too.
The Chicago Blackhawks found that out the hard way on Monday against the Arizona Coyotes.
The Blackhawks thought they had the winning goal with about 15 seconds remaining in overtime, only a review concluded the puck never crossed the goal line. The Coyotes went on to win the game by a final score of 3-2 in the shootout.
From the NHL’s Situation Room blog:
At 5:00 of overtime in the Arizona Coyotes/Chicago Blackhawks game, the Situation Room initiated a video review to further examine a play at the Arizona net. Video review confirmed that the rebound from Andrew Shaw’s shot at 4:44 did not cross the Arizona goal line. No goal Chicago.
The puck jumped up into the air after Mike Smith made the initial save, and landed on the goal line but never conclusively and fully crossed over, according to the league. As that scramble continued, Brandon Saad hit the crossbar.
So close, but so far.
The loss ended Chicago’s run of back-to-back wins. They have now lost three times in the last five games.
Lucas Lessio and Antoine Vermette scored in the shootout for Arizona.