The Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers might be battling on the ice, but there’s a bit of a war of words going on in the press between their two head coaches as well.
Last night, the Oilers stomped the Panthers by a 5-1 score, becoming the first team since 1945 to force a Game 7 after going down 0-3 in the Stanley Cup Final.
While the final result was not close and the Oilers scored the first three goals of the game, Florida appeared to cut a 2-0 first period lead in half before Alex Barkov’s goal was challenged by the Oilers and then overturned for offside.
“I actually didn’t think it was that close,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. “We were actually going to call it right away and we had a little more time to review it and were like, OK. The only hesitation was maybe there wasn’t the right video. In my mind it was definitely offside.”
ESPN rules analyst Dave Jackson also shared close-ups of the play on X.
2 still-shots of the puck still in contact with the blue line while teammate’s skate fully breaks the plane. When enhanced and enlarged on an HD monitor it is conclusive. 2nd pic you can only see part of the puck below heel of the stick pic.twitter.com/pSMg6BBedl
— Dave Jackson (@ESPNRefNHL) June 22, 2024
Panthers coach Paul Maurice was a little more heated at the play in the moment, but seemed more in control of his emotions during the post-game press conference.
“I was upset after the call based on the video at my feet, what my video person looks at… there was no way I would’ve challenged that if it was reversed,” Maurice said. “There was no way I thought you could conclusively say that was offside. … I’m not saying it’s not offside. We’ll get still frames, bring in the CIA, we’ll figure it out. But in the 30 seconds that I would’ve made that call, I would not have challenged.”
“We’ll bring in the CIA.”
Paul Maurice discusses the Oilers coach’s challenge in Game 6. pic.twitter.com/aKhR3DNiE3
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) June 22, 2024
Game 7 goes Monday night in Florida, with puck drop set for 5 pm PT/ 6 pm MT/ 8 pm ET. If nothing else, it’s guaranteed to produce a good soundbite or two.