Jacob Markstrom stole the show on Monday night against the Dallas Stars, making multiple five-alarm saves, then making a bold gamble on a potential breakaway by charging out of his net to dip the puck away from Antoine Roussel. The daring move led to the Canucks’ game-tying goal, sending the game to overtime.
That tying goal was necessary because of a perfect shot by Tyler Seguin on the power play, sending the puck top corner on a sliding Markstrom, who had no chance to make the save. Only, was the shot actually as perfect as it seemed?
The goal went to video review, likely because Markstrom’s hard slide across into the near post actually lifted the net off its moorings. It was determined to still be a good goal, but what was missed is that lifting the net might have actually helped the puck into the net.
Seguin’s shot went into the top corner, but when it did, the top corner wasn’t where it used to be: it was several inches higher.
It’s extremely difficult to tell, but as you can see from the freeze frame at the end of the video above, the net is up a couple inches off the ice at the moment the puck hits the post. I’ve highlighted the moment here and put a circle around the few pixels that are the puck.
I’ve zoomed in even further here and included a line that is the height the bottom of the net was off the ice in the screengrab. It’s not exactly scientific, but it sure looks like the puck would have hit at least a piece of the crossbar if the net was on the ice.
It’s awfully close. Would catching a piece of the crossbar have been enough to keep that puck out of the net? It’s certainly possible. It's also possible that if the net was on the ice the shot would have looked even more precise, going literally top corner.
Keep in mind that Jacob Markstrom has never posted a shutout in his NHL career and is approaching the record for most career games played without a shutout. This was the only goal he allowed in regulation. It’s possible that Markstrom accidentally sabotaged his chance to post the first shutout of his career with this extremely unlikely event.
Can we know for sure that the puck would have stayed out with the net on the ice? No, particularly not without a higher definition replay from a more precise angle for measuring. But it sure looks like the puck went in a little bit more easily because the net was a couple inches higher.
What a weird moment.
