Contested goal sparks Wild past Chicago Blackhawks
The complexities of the offsides rule in the NHL can be maddening enough to confuse even the most seasoned coaches, players and analysts.
And after a call went against Joel Quenneville's Chicago Blackhawks in a 5-2 loss to Minnesota on Thursday night at the United Center, the coach was left fuming at the postgame podium, adamant that the referees got the call wrong on Chris Stewart's tiebreaking goal with 9:28 remaining.
Seconds before Stewart scored, the puck was kicked into the zone by a sliding Brent Seabrook with the Wild's Jason Zucker clearly in his offensive zone.
The NHL said in a statement afterward that: "If a player legally carries or passes the puck back into his own defending zone while the player of the opposing team is in such defending zone, the offside shall be ignored and play permitted to continue."
The problem is, in Quenneville's mind, that's not what happened.
"He didn't carry it and didn't have possession," Quenneville said of Seabrook. "So I disagree with (the call). Plus, it was offside. Why didn't he blow the whistle? Unless he knew that rule and he thought (Seabrook) has possession. Or he thought he carried it, or controlled it."
Adding insult to injury, an unsuccessful offsides challenge this year gives your opponent a power-play opportunity, which Minnesota cashed in on when Zucker scored with 7:31 remaining.
The Wild added 2 empty-net goals, and Jonathan Toews managed to make it 5-2 with 56 seconds remaining. The Hawks' other goal came from Ryan Hartman at 8:21 of the third period and knotted the score at 1-1.
Whether or not the Stewart's goal should have counted is irrelevant in Seabrook's mind. The Hawks' D-man took the blame for being slow to react as the play developed and allowing the 2-on-1 rush in the first place.
"It's on me," Seabrook said. "I've got to do a better job of keeping it on the blue line and at least making a play - not giving up a 2-one-1 there. We had just tied the game. Tough one."
Devan Dubnyk made 36 saves for Minnesota (1-1-1), while Crawford stopped 29 shots for the Hawks (3-1-1).
"They came in ready," Quenneville said of the Wild. "They were sharp off the puck drop."
Schmaltz update:
Nick Schmaltz did not play Thursday, missing his third straight game after suffering an upper-body injury against Columbus last week. Schmaltz, who did participate in morning skate, said the odds of him returning for Saturday's game against Nashville are better than 50-50.
"It's good to be back with everyone, and it's getting better every day," Schmaltz said. "You've got to make sure you're 100 percent before you get back out there. If you're not, you're not going to help the team."
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