At 5:27 of the second period, Sidney Crosby beat New York Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin’s high glove side in front of the goal to give the Pittsburgh Penguins a 1-0 lead:
However, the Islanders believed the play was offside.
Noel Acciari’s skates were still on the ice, using the far bench located in the Islanders’ zone, while the Penguins broke over the blue line.
It seemed clear as day that the call would be overturned, and after a long review, you felt like the chances of a change coming were high.
But after the refs removed the headsets, the play was deemed onside. New York was down 1-0 and was assessed a penalty for delay in the game.
Islanders head coach Patrick Roy clearly disagreed:
After the game, Roy, on his own, elected to talk about the unsuccessful challenge:
“On the coach challenge, I still believe it was offside,” Roy said. “What I need to understand is, if your foot is still outside of the bench, is this considered in or not, and that’s what I need to understand from the league. So I will back up my video, guys, and I think they made the right call.
“I need to understand because, at the beginning of the year, they talk to us about if your skate is inside, it’s a warning for too many men. Is your skate inside of the ice? Is it fair play or not? That’s what I need to understand.”
Here was the NHL’s explanation: “The Situation Room examined two events prior to Sidney Crosby’s goal. The puck first contacted the shaft of Rickard Rakell’s stick in the neutral zone and secondly, Noel Acciari had both skates off the ice for a legal line change prior to Rickard Rakell entering the attacking zone”
So, to sum things up. Acciari wasn’t off the ice once the puck went into the Islanders’ zone, but he was before Rakell entered the Islanders’ zone.
MSG broadcaster Brendan Burke also gave an explanation on the NHL’s ruling:
No. As soon as your feet leave the ice on the player bench, you are considered off the ice. If a player had the wherewithal to dive into the bench instead of touching up, it would work on any delayed offside.
— Brendan Burke (@brendanmburke) November 6, 2024
The Penguins were smart to not carry the puck over the blue line or it would have been deemed offside. But because they dumped the puck, Acciari had time to get off.
