The Offside Challenge That May Have Changed Edmonton and Florida's Stanley Cup Final

While neither team has believed in momentum, Game 6 of the Stanley Cup final could have gone drastically different were it not for a second-period call.

EDMONTON - The Edmonton Oilers snatched a page from the Florida Panthers' playbook and dominated defensively to take over Game 6, but it was a fateful coach's challenge that may have changed the course of hockey history.

Immediately after Adam Henrique put Edmonton up 2-0 in the second period, Florida returned serve when captain Aleksander Barkov buried a feed from Carter Verhaeghe off the rush to give the Panthers life. Ah, but not so fast; the play appeared to be offside, and Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch decided to challenge. Keep in mind, if his gambit failed, Edmonton would have been assessed a minor penalty, and Florida could have tied the game on the ensuing power play.

But Edmonton's video team was on the case, and the call on the ice was indeed reversed, much to the dismay of Florida coach Paul Maurice - who was incredibly animated on the bench in the wake of the decision.

After the game, however, Maurice was contrite and said the linesperson told him that the very last clip the officials received was the one that determined the call reversal.

"I was upset based on what I saw," Maurice said. "There's no way I would have challenged if (the situation) had been reversed. I'm not saying it's not off-side - we'll get still frames, we'll bring in the CIA and figure it out - but in the 30 seconds that I would have made that call, I would not have challenged."

On the other side of the coin however, Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch was more than confident, especially after consulting with his video team of Noah Segall and Mike Fanelli.

"I actually didn't think it was that close," Knoblauch said. "We were going to call it right away, though we had a little more time to review. In my mind, it was definitely offside."

There's an argument to be made that even if the challenge had failed, Edmonton might not have suffered too much since its penalty kill has been so bullet-proof throughout the playoffs, and indeed, the Oilers continue to ride high in that regard.

"We're playing with instinct and playing fast," said Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse. "We're closing things down, guys are making blocks and even when we're having success we're trying to evolve. (Assistant coach) Mark Stuart does a great job preparing us for the games. I feel we're doing a good job cleaning up sticks, being physical and clearing pucks."

Defensively, Edmonton dominated the game. The Oilers surrendered just two shots in the first period and never relinquished the lead once Warren Foegele opened the scoring. Toss in the fact Edmonton scored two empty-net goals after the Panthers pulled goalie Sergei Bobrovsky for the extra attacker with more than three minutes to go, and you have a suffocating result for the Oilers.

"You just have to stick to your process, stick to your game and trust it will produce results," Nurse said. "That's what our team has done; we've made some small adjustments but for the most part we've stuck with what has made us successful to this point. We just have to do it one more time."

Ultimately, the Oilers ran away with Game 6. But the big historical 'What if?' remains that offside challenge - and proof that winning the hardest games takes everyone, including the video coaches.

"I've sat back there watching them do their job and they are so to-the-point in analyzing everything," Nurse said. "They're very confident, they made the right call and it was huge for us."

Get the latest news and trending stories right to your inbox by subscribing to The Hockey News newsletter here.