The Minnesota Wild are looking to tie up their first round series in the Stanley Cup Playoffs at 2 games a piece with the Las Vegas Golden Knights, but they won't be getting any help from the officials on Saturday night.
For the second time in this series Wild forward Joel Eriksson Ek has been denied a goal after a review has overturned the initial call on the ice, although this time around there was considerably more controversy surrounding the call.
This time around it was Wild forward Marcus Foligno who caused the goal to be overturned although no doubt there will be fans in Minnesota who feel he did nothing wrong here. Based on the ruling from the National Hockey League and based on the decision made by the officials upon video review I can tell you that the decision was made because the league ruled that Foligno had impeded Fleury's ability to move freely inside of his own crease in order to make the save. Although as you will see from the short clip provided below, it's really hard to argue that there was sufficient evidence to overturn a goal that was ruled a goal on the ice.
The reaction from what is a normally level headed Mike Russo should also tell you all you need to know about this call.
The fans that were in attendance were quick to let the NHL officials on the ice know how they felt about the call.
Not only were the fans upset about this one but it also sounds like Minnesota Wild head coach Dean Evason was engaged in a pretty heated verbal exchange with the officials during the T.V. timeout, although given that we were in a commercial break I am unable to confirm just how heated that exchange became.
I think what makes this the most frustrating for those rooting on the Wild in this one however is the undeniable fact that it was Golden Knights goaltender Marc Andre Fleury who initiated the contact with Foligno on the play. Fleury clearly skates into Foligno, although you can perhaps make the argument that Foligno's skate was inside of the crease at some point during that contact.
Needless to say, this one will haunt Wild fans for some time if this game doesn't go their way.
Update: A better look at the full sequence:
