The Tampa Bay Lightning’s quest for a third straight Stanley Cup championship is perilously close to ending, due in part to a goal that coach Jon Cooper believes should not have counted.
Nazem Kadri’s overtime goal in Wednesday’s Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final put the Colorado Avalanche at a decided 3-1 advantage in the best-of-seven series, though an emotional Cooper implied during the post-game media conference the Avalanche had an extra skater on the ice at the time of the deciding tally.
"This one is going to sting much more than others,” Cooper said of the Lightning’s 3-2 loss. "It's going to be hard for me to speak. I'll speak with you [Thursday]. You're going to see what I mean when you see the winning goal."
Cooper did not answer any additional questions, stopping the conference just over two minutes in.
The NHL's official scoresheet had six skaters listed on the ice for Kadri’s game-winner, which occurred 12:02 into overtime, but later said in a statement the discrepancy could have been due to players jumping off the bench to celebrate the goal.
Too many men on the ice penalties are not able to be reviewed under league replay rules.
"A too many men on the ice penalty is a judgment call that can be made by any of the four on-ice officials," NHL Hockey Operations said in the statement.
"Following the game, Hockey Operations met with the four officials as is their normal protocol. In discussing the winning goal, each of the four officials advised that they did not see a too many men on the ice situation on the play.
"This call is not subject to video review either by Hockey Ops or the on-ice officials."
Cooper began his brief news conference lauding his players’ resolve for reaching a third consecutive Cup Final in a salary-cap era before alluding to his disapproval to the no-call on Kadri’s goal.
"I've been part of some heartbreaking losses and defeats to the teams that took us out, and been with a group that just fights, fights and fights," he said.
"And they fought their way to a third Stanley Cup Final in a row. And in a cap era when it’s so damn hard and the rules are put against you because the league wants parity.
“My heart breaks for the players, because we should probably still be playing.”
The series now shifts back to Denver for Friday’s Game 5, in which the Avalanche will attempt to clinch the franchise’s first Stanley Cup title since 2001.
Bednar calls for another level from Avalanche after latest loss to playoff contenders
The Colorado Avalanche failed another test against an NHL playoff contender, losing 5-2 to the Los Angeles Kings to leave head coach Jared Bednar frustrated.
The Kings recorded their fifth straight win, improving their record to 38-20-8 to sit second in the Pacific Division.
But the Avs are third in the Central Division with a 35-21-6 record, having lost four of their past five games, all against sides in the playoffs contention.
"There's another level of determination and passion that we can play with, if we want to win against the good teams," Bednar told reporters.
"It's deflating, because you feel like you're right there and you know they're a difficult team to score against."
Adrian Kempe opened the scoring in the first period and Gabriel Vilardi doubled their advantage at 17:10.
Evan Rodrigues halved the deficit, deflecting in Samuel Girard's point shot at 14:59 of the second period. But Kempe restored the Kings' two-goal lead early in the third.
Nathan MacKinnon made it 3-2 with a snap shot at 4:24 on the power play, only for Phillip Danault to score twice to seal victory for the Kings, the latter into an empty net.
Avs defenseman Cale Makar reiterated Bednar's sentiment, with Colorado's postseason hopes getting tight.
"We should have approached this like a playoff game tonight," Makar said. "Felt like we knew the type of team they are.
"We know that they're so systematically sound that it tends to frustrate teams when they sit back and don't allow you to get in their zone."
Fleury 'won the game for us' says Wild coach after extending points streak to 11 games
Minnesota Wild head coach Dean Evason hailed goal-tender Marc-Andre Fleury as they extended their points streak to 11 games with a 4-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday.
The Wild improved their recent run to 9-0-2, despite losing in an over-time shoot-out to the Calgary Flames on Tuesday, to continue their postseason push.
Marcus Foligno grabbed a goal and an assist, while Frederick Gaudreau, Ryan Hartman and Mason Shaw also scored, but Fleury made 46 saves and earned praise from Evason.
"Our goal-tender won the hockey game for us," Evason told reporters.
"It was obvious what happened against Calgary, [Flames goal-tender] Markstrom won it probably for them. Goal-tenders come up big and Fleury was huge for us tonight."
The Wild may have boosted their playoffs case but they were left with an injury worry with top scorer Kiriil Kaprizov hitting the ice hard and exiting the game in the third period.
"I've not been in the rooms, so I don’t know yet," Evason said about Kaprizov's status. "He was able to skate off, so if there's a positive, that was one of them."
Evason hailed center Oskar Sundqvist who provided two assists, having only joined the Wild in a trade from the Detroit Red Wings last week.
"We liked Sundqvist's game tonight," Evason said. "His stick was real good. He made a couple of nice passes last night, we just didn’t convert.
"He's got a skill set that combined with his size and ability to get up the ice and finish checks, hopefully he can continue to generate offensive opportunities for us."
Quick return to Pacific Division as Kings great signs with VGK
Jonathan Quick was reported to be unhappy with the trade that took him away from the Los Angeles Kings this week, but he was soon back at the top of the Pacific Division.
Goaltender Quick was included in a trade deal with the Columbus Blue Jackets as the Kings moved for Joonas Korpisalo.
A two-time Stanley Cup champion in LA, Quick paid the price for a difficult season but was said to have remained in the city amid frustration at his departure.
Rather than heading to Columbus, he will instead make the shorter trip to Las Vegas after the Golden Knights agreed their own trade with the Blue Jackets.
Starting Golden Knights netminder Logan Thompson is out injured, potentially presenting the opportunity for Quick to come straight into the team.
The veteran's new Golden Knights team-mates are tied with the Kings at the top of the division.
Vegas will play the Kings once more this season, on April 6.
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