A fraction of an inch in the other direction, and the Oilers, who began the series as a prohibitive favorite, keep playing and still have a chance to tie the series going into Wednesday\u2019s Game 5. A fraction of an inch in the other direction, and perhaps Jarry\u2019s reputation, beleaguered at best, still has a chance to change. A fraction of an inch in the other direction, and there would have been no doubt about the play.<\/p>\n
Instead, what already had been the most chaotic first-round series in the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs went into orbit, then spent a few minutes in purgatory.<\/p>\n
Poehling had begun to loop behind the net when he noticed the puck behind Jarry. At first, he didn\u2019t celebrate. He pointed. Even as referees Francois St-Laurent and Jake Brenk convened behind the net \u2014 both were well above the goal line when the puck appeared to cross \u2014 the rest of the Ducks took their cues from Poehling.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt looked like it could have gone anywhere, but when I saw (Poehling) go behind the (net) and celebrate like he knew it was in, it reminded me of somebody else that saw something like that in an overtime period,\u201d Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said, nodding toward the Chicago Blackhawks\u2019 2010 Stanley Cup-winning goal against Philadelphia, when Patrick Kane was the only person who seemed immediately certain that his bad-angle shot beat Flyers goaltender Michael Leighton.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, it took an uncommonly long time \u2014 as the crowd roared and the Ducks celebrated \u2014 for St-Laurent and Brenk to make their initial on-ice decision.<\/p>\n
Through it all, Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch hoped the situation would play out as so many he\u2019d seen before and that a lack of conclusive evidence would rule the day.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought we were going to get away with it,\u201d Knoblauch said, adding that he didn\u2019t see space between the goal line and the puck. Complicating the review angle was Jarry\u2019s skate, which was hovering over the puck and preventing viewers from officially seeing white paint between the goal line and the puck. Geometry dictates that such space existed; video, to a reasonable viewer, may not have.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been many times where I\u2019ve seen (an apparent offside call) and they don\u2019t have the absolute proof of it,\u201d Knoblauch said. \u201cI thought that was gonna be the call (Sunday), also.\u201d<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t. After the league\u2019s video review concluded, Brenk skated to center ice. \u201cAfter the review,\u201d he said, \u201cthe puck completely crossed the goal line \u2026\u201d The crowd drowned out the rest of the announcement.<\/p>\n
![\"Oilers](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2273315618-scaled-e1777281535522.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n The Oilers searched for proof of whether Ryan Poehling\u2019s game winner actually crossed the goal line. (Sean M. Haffey \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Later, the league sent an email to media members re-stating two important bits: that the initial call was a good goal, and that the official review confirmed as much. The second element makes the first less important. If the review had been deemed inconclusive, the on-ice call \u2014 made by referees who were far from the play itself and made their decision amid celebrating players and a turned-to-11 home crowd \u2014 would\u2019ve stood.<\/p>\n
In a quiet post-loss dressing room, Connor McDavid called the goal \u201cnot exactly an oil painting,\u201d but the kind of reward teams get when they throw pucks at the net. Jarry accepted the ambiguity, even if he disagreed with the call.<\/p>\n
Mattias Ekholm disagreed most strongly, but he maintained perspective and an even keel.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou guys saw it on the screen, we saw it on the TV down on the bench. I don\u2019t know how they see it as a conclusive goal. I just don\u2019t, to be honest. Maybe there\u2019s somebody that can prove me otherwise,\u201d he said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t really matter, to be honest. They call it a goal and we\u2019ll have to vie with that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Indeed. Now, the Oilers are one game away from a first-round elimination by a team, nearly identical regular-season point totals aside, that they were decent money to take care of in short order. They still have no answer for the Ducks\u2019 speed or shot-clock dominance, and they seem to be getting a diminished version of McDavid. Asked about the state of his health \u2014 McDavid is thought to be playing on an injured ankle \u2014 the superstar gave an all-time non-answer, saying the Oilers are \u201call doing the best we can out there. We\u2019re all working, and we\u2019re all trying to get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jarry, for what it\u2019s worth, played well in his first game since taking over for Connor Ingram, and he figures to get the start in Game 5. McDavid said he gave Edmonton a chance to win, and it\u2019s hard to disagree. Jarry finished the game with 34 saves on 38 shots and was particularly good in the first period.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe made some big saves,\u201d Knoblauch said. \u201cThat\u2019s what we wanted from him, a solid performance, and he played well.\u201d<\/p>\n
If Poehling\u2019s shot bounced differently off Nurse or stopped sliding a moment earlier, the performance might be viewed as something more than solid, especially for a goalie who began the night 2-6 in playoff games and 0-3 in ones that went to overtime, including a series-deciding loss in 2021 for the Pittsburgh Penguins, when he passed a puck directly to Islanders forward Josh Bailey.<\/p>\n
Beyond that, in his last two NHL seasons, Jarry has offered worse odds than a coin flip \u2014 in 69 appearances, he\u2019s saved more goals than expected 32 times, with a lower-than-average percentage of quality starts and a string of truly brutal games trailing him into the postseason. Sunday would\u2019ve been a step toward changing the narratives surrounding both himself and his team.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just unlucky. An unlucky bounce,\u201d Jarry said. \u201cIt goes off of the skate and just kind of bounces right between my legs, and it just kept going and just died behind me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Oilers\u2019 season, meanwhile, is still alive. Just barely.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ANAHEIM, Calif. \u2014 It took 60 seconds, maybe more, for officials on the ice at Honda Center to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":609538,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[4830,1792,385,99],"class_list":["post-609537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-anaheim-ducks","tag-edmonton-oilers","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}