Marcus Johansson scored one of the strangest goals of his career in the Minnesota Wild’s 3-2 overtime win over the Nashville Predators at Grand Casino Arena, Tuesday.
On a 3-on-2 break, Kirill Kaprizov sent a slap pass to the former Capital at the far post, who shanked his shot attempt off the side of the net. As Johansson did so, Predators goalie Justus Annunen slid into the net and knocked the goal off its moorings, thinking Kaprizov was aiming short side with a one-timer. Johansson then gathered the rebound and nonchalantly backhanded the puck into where the net should have been, seemingly confused if play was continuing or not.
“I had no idea,” Johansson said after the game. “I don’t know what the rule is.”
NHL officials on the ice, however, did know the rule and immediately signaled that it was a good goal.
“I didn’t know really what happened. Didn’t know if we were supposed to celebrate or not,” Johansson said. “Just kind of didn’t know what the call was going to be. When it’s pushed off like that, maybe it’s the right thing to do.”
NHL officials in Toronto called the referees to review the play on video. After a short delay, league officials determined that Johansson’s tally was a good goal due to Rule 63.7 in the NHL Rule Book.
“Video review supported the Referees’ call on the ice that the actions of Nashville’s Justus Annunen caused the net to be displaced prior to the puck crossing the goal line,” the NHL Situation Room explained. “Therefore, the Referees awarded Minnesota’s Marcus Johansson with a goal.”
In the event that the goal post is displaced, either deliberately or accidentally, by a defending player, prior to the puck crossing the goal line between the normal position of the goalposts, the Referee may award a goal. In order to award a goal in this situation, the goal post must have been displaced by the actions of a defending player, the attacking player must have an imminent scoring opportunity prior to the goal post being displaced, and it must be determined that the puck would have entered the net between the normal position of the goal posts.
The pivotal phrase in the rule’s text — at least regarding Johansson’s OTGWG — is “imminent scoring opportunity.” And that’s where Nashville disagreed with the ruling.
“Obviously, one of the refs who called it a goal on the ice thought that our goaltender pushed the net off on purpose and therefore denied an opportunity for them to score,” Predators forward Steven Stamkos explained. “But, obviously, there’s two sides to everything.
“Our side thought, the net came off, but he missed the shot and it went wide. And if the net wasn’t off and the angle that it was at, the puck would have gone behind the net and therefore he wouldn’t of had a second opportunity. If we’re staying true to the rule and our interpretation of it is – if the net is off and it directly effects a goal that is scored, then yeah, we have no problem with that. But the original shot didn’t go in and the puck bounced back to him because the net was off. So that’s where we were a little confused.”
Hockey fans on X were amused that the goal counted with user @spokedz joking, “The greatest overtime winning goal of all time.”
The victory gave Minnesota back-to-back wins for the first time this season and helped them overcome an insane last-second goal by Stamkos, tying the game 2-2 at the end of regulation. The former Lightning legend sent a one-timer from the top of the left circle past Filip Gustavsson with 0.3 of a second remaining.
“Thankfully, I put it in even though the net wasn’t there,” Johansson concluded.