Explaining wild review, penalty shot sequence in Senators-Hurricanes

If you thought you’d seen everything in an NHL hockey game, think again.

In one of the most chaotic sequences you will ever see, the Ottawa Senators were able to survive to a second period of overtime against the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 2 on Monday.

With the Senators called for a delayed penalty, Hurricanes forward Mark Jankowski appeared to bury the overtime winner to give Carolina a 2-0 series lead.

But after a league-mandated review, the goal was waved off for offside.

The league determined that Hurricanes forward Jordan Staal had possession but not control of the puck when his skates went over the blue line on the initial entry to the zone, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.

Rule 83.1 of the NHL rulebook states in part: “A player controlling the puck who shall cross the line ahead of the puck shall not be considered ‘off-side,’ provided he had possession and control of the puck with his stick prior to both skates completely crossing the leading edge of the blue line.”

However, the absurdity of the sequence was far from over.

Because the Hurricanes scored with the Senators on a delayed penalty, Carolina was still in line to receive the penalty after the disallowed goal.

That call was made with reference to Rule 38.7 of the NHL rulebook, which states in part: “If one or more penalties (minor or major) are assessed between the time of the missed infraction and the video review that disallows the apparent goal, the offending team(s) (and responsible Player(s)) will still be required to serve the penalty(ies) identified and assessed, and the time of the penalty(ies) will be recorded as the time at which the play should have been stopped for the missed infraction.”

But this call wasn’t just a regular penalty, as the referees determined that Jordan Martinook had a clear scoring chance taken away and awarded the Hurricanes forward a penalty shot.

Senators goalie Linus Ullmark came up big and stopped Martinook, and after all was said and done, the game headed to another 20 minutes of overtime.

Martinook would get the last laugh, however, as he made up for his penalty shot miss in the second overtime by scoring the game-winner.

Luckily for both teams, there are two days off to recover before Game 3 in Ottawa on Thursday.