Tortorella challenge steals spotlight, but didn’t cost Golden Knights Game 2

RALEIGH – The question was obvious. 

What did John Tortorella see that made him issue a coach’s challenge in a 2-2 game with five minutes left? 

“I saw a loose puck in front of Freddy (Andersen), our player stabbed it, didn’t move the goalie, and it goes through and went to the other side,” said the Vegas Golden Knights coach, who was disinterested as always in elaborating further.

“I’d challenge it 10 out of 10 times.”

He’d probably be wrong all ten then, as this league has made it patently clear it takes crystal clear video evidence to overturn no-goal calls, as this one was ruled on and off the ice.

The disputed goal came after Ivan Barbashev’s wraparound attempt was stopped by a sprawling Andersen, who lay prone on the ice as Barbashev poked at the puck, which was underneath the goalie. 

The puck wound up squirting under the netminder and crossing the goal line, but was immediately waved off by the official, who was standing right behind the net.

“The ruling on the play was goaltender interference,” explained the NHL’s director of officiating, Stephen Walkom.

“He waved it (off) immediately. He believed that it was under the goalie and the Vegas player went after the puck and interfered with the goalie and his ability to freeze the puck, and waved it off immediately.”

Straight up, Tortorella erred in challenging the play. 

A coach who has been justifiably praised for leading Vegas to a 20-5-1 record since he took over, put his club in harm’s way.

For a guy who has pushed all the right buttons in his return to coaching, it was an uncharacteristic mistake.

Was it an emotional response by a coach and video personnel who get excited at the prospect of taking the late lead despite the odds?

Did it have anything to do with his confidence in a penalty killing unit he likely had all the faith in the world in to kill off the possible delay of game penalty he was issued?

Far be it from Tortorella to explain.

To be fair, Tortorella lived by his credo that he wants his team to make “aggressive mistakes.”

This was aggressive, alright.  

Given the stakes, and the fact the puck was hidden throughout the moment in question, few in the press box thought the challenge made sense.

Twenty-five seconds later, it was clear why, as Jordan Staal scored on a power-play deflection gifted to Carolina by Tortorella’s challenge.

Mitch Marner said his bench was hopeful the challenge would go their way.

“The puck was free,” was his assessment, contrary to what the video showed.

“Barbie gets all puck there. Sometimes that’s the way the game goes.”

As much ink as there will be spilled over Tortorella’s miscalculation, the reality is that it was all rendered moot by Mark Stone when the captain tied the game with 1:21 remaining and the goalie pulled.

At that point, the coach was immediately off the hook.

It put Vegas back where they were before the challenge — all square.

A Tomas Hertl penalty in overtime set up Seth Jarvis’ overtime winner four minutes in, to cap an unlikely comeback that seemed unfathomable 14 minutes earlier.

It was only then, with ten minutes to go in the third, that Logan Stankoven’s goal broke Carter Hart’s shutout and led to a Mark Jankowski game-tying marker two minutes later.

The Lenovo Center exploded, setting up the dramatic challenge and finish.

Quite the gut punch for a Vegas club that spent 50 minutes leading the game, courtesy of two Brett Howden goals that seemed destined to pave the way for a possible sweep in Vegas.

“It was wild, a lot going on, yeah, just crazy,” said Howden of the third-period drama.

“I mean, with the call there on the no-goal, and then a penalty… but then I thought we did a great job of fighting that and coming back with a goal there. Unfortunately, we couldn’t finish it off in overtime. But we’re excited to get back home.”

They’ll do so unsure of the status of Brayden McNabb, who took an 87-m.p.h. slap shot from Nikolaj Ehlers in the face and left the game midway through the first.

“It’s terrifying,” said Marner of the scary scene.

“Gonna try to check on him after here, and hopefully he’s all good. He’s a warrior who has done so many great things for us. Big miss whenever he’s out of the lineup, for sure. But our five D did a great job tonight, and they just battled through.”

The loss ended the Golden Knights’ seven-game winning streak and evened the Stanley Cup Final at one game apiece heading back to Vegas Saturday.

Only then will we see just how well the hosts respond to being on the other end of a dramatic third-period comeback.

“We’re in the Stanley Cup Final — this is never going to be easy,” said Marner, who had two assists, including the setup of Stone’s late tally.  

“We’ve got to be a little smarter with some of our pucks there. I liked how we battled back in the game, got to overtime. But we’ve just got to keep advancing pucks.”