By Peter Baugh (The Athletic)
DENVER — Immediately after the puck crossed the line, Alexandar Georgiev was adamant the Dallas goal shouldn’t count. Ryan Suter had pushed Logan O’Connor into him, and Wyatt Johnston scored shortly after.
The goalie wasn’t alone in his assessment. As soon as Avalanche coach Jared Bednar saw the replay, he felt confident the play was goaltender interference. His assistants agreed, so he challenged the ruling on the ice.
“You can’t go into the goalie on your own, and you can’t force someone else in there,” Bednar said after Colorado’s 5-2 win against Dallas. “(Georgiev) has no chance of making the save when the rebound popped out. I thought there was a really good chance it was getting turned over.”
Bednar’s decision wasn’t without risk. The game was in the third period, and had Colorado lost the challenge, Dallas would have gone on the power play needing only one goal to tie the score. The Avalanche coach knew the time and score, but he had faith the league would agree with him following a video review.
Georgiev also expected the goal to get overturned — “it looked like clear goaltender interference,” he said — and the netminder was right. The crowd erupted as the referee announced the goal would not count.
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