In playoff hockey, every inch matters, and on Thursday night, the Winnipeg Jets may have been denied a goal due to an infinitesimally small distance.
While trailing the St. Louis Blues 3-0 in Game 3, the Jets were on a power play midway through the second period. During the ensuing man advantage, Jets forward Cole Perfetti appeared to be spectacularly stopped by goaltender Jordan Binnington, who made a dramatic glove save after receiving a cross-ice pass from Mark Scheifele.
However, Perfetti immediately gestured towards the net, indicating his belief that Binnington`s glove had crossed the goal line at the moment he made the save.
Officials initiated a video review to confirm if Perfetti`s assertion was correct. But after more than four minutes spent examining replays, the original on-ice ruling of no goal was maintained. According to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, the NHL Situation Room did not find sufficient conclusive evidence to overturn the initial call.
During the intermission, Friedman drew a comparison between this sequence and an event from last year`s first-round series between the Edmonton Oilers and the Los Angeles Kings. In Game 5 of that series, the Situation Room had overturned a similar-looking save on a shot by Leon Draisaitl because the puck was definitively confirmed to have crossed the line.
