Hurricanes Win In Overtime On Blatantly Illegal Goal

The New York Islanders and Carolina Hurricanes played to overtime in a game between two struggling teams just barely clinging to wild card playoff spots. With less than two minutes to play in the overtime period, the Hurricanes' Andrei Svechnikov raised his stick well above his head to try and deflect a shot.

By rule, this is high-sticking. For whatever reason, no penalty was called on the ice.

The puck fell to Vincent Trocheck, who slotted it past the Isles' Thomas Greiss for the controversial game-winner. After a brief video review, the goal held up, much to the dismay of Islanders head coach Barry Trotz.

On top of that, the NHL's situation room can't seem to make up their mind about the exact status of the call. In the end, it doesn't really matter - the goal still counts either way - but there is still a key semantic difference between "call stands" and "call confirmed".

This game-winning overtime goal, late in the season in a game between two teams on the playoff bubble, could very well decide the fortunes of both teams. Not exactly a good look for the league.