To understand the irony of Steven Stamkos’ overtime winner against the Florida Panthers on Thursday, you need to go back exactly a month to St. Paul, Minnesota.

Funnily enough, it was Stamkos who tied the game with one second left to send the Nashville Predators to overtime against the Minnesota Wild on Nov. 4. 

Nearly halfway through the extra period, on a Wild rush into the zone, goalie Justus Annunen knocked the goal off its moorings. As the goal was off its moorings, Marcus Johansson tipped a pass on net from the right side.

The puck bounced off the side of the net, Johansson caught the rebound and put it over the goal line. Officials leaned on NHL Rule 63.7, which states that if the net is knocked off its moorings by a defending player before the puck crosses the line and then goes over the line, it’s a good goal. 

The rule also adds that the attacking player must have an imminent scoring opportunity prior to the goal post being displaced and that it must be determined that the puck would’ve crossed the line if the net was still in place. 

The issue that came with Johansson’s overtime winner is that he got the rebound to score off the side of the net, which wouldn’t have happened if the net had been displaced. Still, the goal counted, and the Wild won, 3-2. 

“The confusing part for us is why it was so emphatically called a goal,” Stamkos said following the loss to the Wild on Nov. 4. “The net’s off, and if the puck goes in right away, it’s no problem. But he (Johansson) missed the net and got the puck back because the net was sideways.”

“If the net wasn’t off, the puck wouldn’t have came back to him to have a open net.” 

Fast forward to Dec. 4: a goal by Ryan O’Reilly had sent the Predators to overtime in a game they trailed for most of. Nashville was eyeing just its third back-to-back win of the season and a little over a week off from an 8-3 blowout loss to Florida. 

On a fast break in the final minute of overtime, Florida’s Gustav Forsling broke an edge trying to defend to defend Roman Josi, fell, slid into the net and pushed it off of its moorings. 

Meanwhile, Josi found O’Reilly on the right side; he’d hold the puck before centering it to Stamkos. With the net off, Stamkos fired it in to win the game, 2-1, and following NHL Rule 63.7 to a tee. 

“They were two different plays,” Brunette said, comparing the Wild overtime goal to Stamkos’ winner. “I knew that one (Stamkos’ goal) was going to be a goal. You’re shooting the puck when the net comes off, which was a little different than the Minnesota one.” 

Hockey is a very superstitious sport, and it’s hard to shake off the idea that this is a little bit of good karma for the Predators. It also could be that the team is just playing better. 

Juuse Saros made 30 saves on 31 shots for a third straight win and the penalty killing unit went an impressive 6-of-6 on the night. Stamkos, who also had a slow start to the year, now has six points in five games. 

“We just talked about taking it one game at a time,” Stamkos said following the win over the Panthers. “You can’t look too far ahead; we’re not in a position to do that. We’re trying to string as many games together as possible and this is a game you can build on.”