The Edmonton Oilers came into their Game 6 Stanley Cup matchup on Friday night with the Florida Panthers with all the momentum after taking the past two games of the series. And in Friday’s game, they got quite lucky when a very close offside call went in their favor, offsetting a crucial Panthers goal in the process.
Edmonton came out of the gates hot as they have in the past two games, scoring first in the game with a first-period goal from Warren Foegele.
The Oilers then added to this lead with another goal shortly after the beginning of the second period from Adam Henrique.
At this point in the game, it had a very similar script to the past two Oilers wins where the Oilers got an early lead over the Panthers that Florida simply couldn’t overcome.
This meant that it was incredibly important for the Panthers to answer and make this a one-goal game as soon as possible. It looked like they did just that immediately after Henrique’s goal, winning the following faceoff and scoring right away to make it a 2-1 game.
However, the goal was reviewed and it was ultimately determined on the replay that Carter Verhaeghe was offside, which of course called off the goal.
When you take a look at the slow-motion replay, it looks like they got the call right in the end. But it was far less obvious in real-time. Naturally, Panthers fans were not happy with this decision whatsoever.
Ultimately, the call was the right one. But if you are a Panthers fan, it’s fairly understandable to be upset after having a call that was that close go against you in that moment.
To make matters even worse, the Oilers would score a third time later in the second period to go into the third period with a 3-0 lead.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.