The Washington Capitals must have felt like they were the subject of a cruel joke against the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Clinging to a 3-1 lead late in the third period, the Red Wings scored two 6-on-5 goals in the final 1:40 of regulation to force overtime. While the Red Wings\u2019 first 6-on-5 goal took some skill, their game-tying goal with 53 seconds remaining was one of the strangest bounces in NHL history.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was an odd game. It really was,\u201d Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan said<\/a>. <\/p>\n Alex DeBrincat was the beneficiary of an insane redirect where his dump-in went off the glass and directly into the net, ricocheting past a beleaguered Charlie Lindgren.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cJust tried to rim it around,\u201d DeBrincat said after the game<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019m not sure what it hit, maybe the dasher or whatever. I saw it come off and go off something, and I knew it had a chance to go in. Those ones are pretty tricky. Obviously, a lucky bounce.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, I just saw him dump it in,\u201d Dylan Larkin said<\/a>. \u201cHe jumped up. I was just going to forecheck, so I didn\u2019t even see it. It\u2019s hard to track pucks on the glass. There are black seats and people there. You kind of just wait for it to come down. Good bounce for us\u2026 finally.\u201d<\/p>\n The goal was Debrincat\u2019s 30th goal of the season \u2014 the fifth time he\u2019s hit the mark in his career.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of credit to [my teammates] and some credit to those bounces I get today,\u201d DeBrincat said, smirking.<\/p>\n But calling the goal a good bounce doesn\u2019t really do it justice. As explained by Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery, the dumped-in puck struck the photographer-controlled camera hole glass along the cornerboards.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve never seen that before,\u201d Carbery said<\/a>. \u201cFor people who don\u2019t know, there\u2019s a camera hole that\u2019s covered up with plexiglass in the corner so people can take live pictures without the glass in the way. So we have it in the slo-mo (video), he opens the hole to put his camera through, then sees the puck is getting rimmed around, and goes, \u2018Uh oh!\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s basically a thing that slides in to close that hole, and it hits right there, and the piece that slides there goes exploding behind the person. I don\u2019t know if you\u2019ll ever see that again in that situation. It goes directly into the net.\u201d<\/p>\n John Carlson immediately argued with officials his belief that the goal should be waved off. Officials reviewed footage of the play, but ultimately ruled that it was legal.<\/p>\n \u201cThe league just said \u2014 I think the actual rule is, if the camera is through and then it\u2019s obstructing, and it goes past the goalie, they\u2019d call it back,\u201d Carbery explained. \u201cBut because it was just the glass open or partially open, that it\u2019s a good goal.\u201d<\/p>\n After the game, the NHL posted an official explanation on their website<\/a>.<\/p>\n Type of Challenge: Missed Game Stoppage Event \u2013 Puck Out of Bounds<\/p>\n Result: Original call confirmed \u2013 Goal Detroit<\/p>\n Explanation: The Situation Room supported the Referee\u2019s call on the ice that the puck remained in the playing area at all times, making contact with the camera hole cover that was closed and in its proper position. The decision was made in accordance with Rule 38.10.<\/p>\n NOTE: In the final minute of play in the third period and at any point in overtime (regular season and playoffs), Hockey Operations will initiate the review of any scenario that would otherwise be subject to a Coach\u2019s Challenge.<\/p>\n The Detroit News\u2019 Dave Guralnick was the photographer manning the corner when DeBrincat\u2019s dump-in struck the glass.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been doing this a long time, and that\u2019s the first time the puck hit the hole square-on,\u201d Guralnick said<\/a>. \u201cThe force of the puck knocked the glass into my lap. The puck just careened in a weird way, which caught the goalie off guard and slipped under his pads.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that someone on the Capitals was \u201cextremely angry\u201d with him. The unnamed player reminded him that he needed to keep the hole closed when the puck was near.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was closed,\u201d he countered. \u201cIf it wasn\u2019t closed, I would probably be on the way to the emergency room right now because it was hit with full force.\u201d<\/p>\n