from Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet,
Asked directly if his overtime playoff game-winner, the one that gave the San Jose Sharks a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference Final against the St. Louis Blues, was set up by an illegal hand pass, defenceman Erik Karlsson said: "We weren’t playing handball were we?"
Europeans. Handball? No, clearly Timo Meier was playing volleyball.
A great game was overshadowed by a massive call, one that referees Marc Joanette and Dan O’Rourke, and linesmen Jonny Murray and Matt MacPherson, appeared to get wrong Wednesday. The Sharks’ 5-4 win against the St. Louis Blues seemed like further evidence that the National Hockey League must do something to help its officials on game-deciding calls.
Instead, the four guys wearing stripes were the only ones in the hockey universe unable, due to NHL restrictions of video review, to look at a replay and see that Meier cuffed the puck to teammate Gustav Nyquist, who relayed it to Karlsson for the winning goal at 5:23 of overtime.
Had it been Game 7 instead of Game 3, the missed call would have been every bit as explosive and damaging to the NHL as the phantom five-minute major assessed to the Vegas Golden Knights that enabled the Sharks to overcome a three-goal deficit in the deciding game and take that first-round series in seven.
Below, watch the questionable goal and the game highlights.
added 7:51am, below, watch the Blues post-game reaction.
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