The Daily Faceoff Show: Was the Cale Makar play actually offsides?

In today’s episode of The Daily Faceoff Show, Frank Seravalli and Chris Gear broke down the controversial call that was handed down in the first period of the Colorado Avalanche and Edmonton Oilers’ Game 1 matchup, in which Cale Makar’s goal was ruled onside. Was it the right call?

Frank Seravalli: Jay Woodcroft was in a really interesting spot in Game 1, Chris, and that was the offside-video review towards the end of the first period and the dying seconds, in fact. Cale Makar enters the offensive zone and does not touch the puck once he crosses the blue line, as you see his teammate Valeri Nichushkin there exiting the zone. This was a classic tag-up play. I think, Chris, it’s fair to say by the letter of the law, by the rulebook, the NHL made the correct call, and their director of officiating Stephen Walkom was on-site in the building at Ball Arena, to oversee this entire process. So yes, when you look at it, Cale Makar does not touch the puck until a little bit after Nichushkin clears the zone, but was this the spirit of the rule? Was the correct call made at the end in terms of what offsides should or shouldn’t look like in your view?

Chris Gear: I don’t think so, Frank. To me, Cale Makar is in possession and control of the puck when he crosses the blue line. Whether it’s a little of his stick or not to me is irrelevant. You got a case here where Nichuchskin is a foot inside the blue line. We’ve seen so many goals overturned over the last few years when they’re looking at millimetres over the blue line for these offside calls, and now suddenly this one is different because the puck is pushed off Makar’s stick. You know, I just don’t like it. I think it’s the wrong call. I get that they are trying to interpret the rulebook very technically. It’s a lot like the Coleman goal off the skate in the Calgary series. These technicalities shouldn’t be happening. They’re tough on fans, they delay the game and they happen at critical moments. This made it a 3-2 game and sort of changed the outcome of the game. I don know how it gets better or fixed, but I didn’t like the call. How about you?

Frank Seravalli: Yeah I am totally with you. Makar is clearly attempting to enter the zone with possession. It just happens, there seems to be a lot of credit given to Cale Makar, and certainly never underestimate his brilliance as a player, but he did admit after the game that whe was trying to buy as much time as possible for Nichushkin to leave the zone. But, look at where his head is at. He’s not really looking at Nichushkin and where he is going. It happened to be pure luck in this case, and the intent was still for him to carry it into the zone and push it forward. Jay Woodcroft was saying after the game, “That wasn’t the reason we lost,” but I wouldn’t doubt that it was a huge swing in momentum. For one, the Oilers just scored a tying goal nine seconds earlier, the review went the other way, the Oilers were hit with a penalty and the Avs scored early in the second period. It’s a two-goal swing, which ends up being the margin of victory for the Colorado Avalanche. To me, I think the Oilers were in a spot where they thought they were making the right challenge, Jay Woodcroft being a former video coach himself, and it’s rare to see teams get offside challenges wrong. In this case, I think we were all shocked in the arena, seeing the replays and seeing everything over and over again, to see this is what the NHL ultimately came up with, because Makar pushing into his zone, it was pretty clear what he was trying to do, but it was dumb luck he didn’t touch it.

You can watch the full episode here…