Feeling like the Montreal Canadiens have had more goals called off for offside than any other team? You are actually correct, according to the NHL media site stats. Care to guess who has had the fewest goals annulled?
In the Montreal Canadiens’ game against the Vegas Golden Knights, the Habs had a goal called back for offside nearly a minute after the contested zone entry happened. In the post-game conference, we suggested to Martin St-Louis that there should be a cutoff time for raising an offside challenge, and the bench boss replied that, since the league has the technology to make the right calls, they should be made. He did, however, mention he felt his team was losing more goals to offside challenges than others, adding that someone could come back to him at the next presser on that topic.
Thanks to the NHL media stats website, it wasn’t difficult to verify. As of February 3 at 10:00 AM, there have been 163 coach challenges in the NHL this season, 74 of which were for offside (representing 45% of all challenges). Six of those 74 challenges for offside were against the Canadiens (representing 8% of all challenges for offside), and all six challenges were successful in getting the goal annulled.
What about the other teams, though? How many goals have they lost? No other team has had more goals annulled for offside than the Canadiens. The Colorado Avalanche are second in that department with five goals annulled on five offside challenges (7% of all offside challenges). The San Jose Sharks and the Washington Capitals are in third place, having lost four goals to offside challenges (5% of all offside challenges).
At the other end of the spectrum, there are a few teams that have not lost a single goal to an offside challenge: the Carolina Hurricanes, the Florida Panthers, the Minnesota Wild, the Seattle Kraken, the St. Louis Blues, and the Toronto Maple Leafs.
As for who challenged for offside the most, the Golden Knights are at the top of the list with six challenges, five of which were successful. The Leafs are second, with five challenges, all successful. The Wild, Utah Mammoth, Edmonton Oilers, and Chicago Blackhawks have all made four challenges. How many challenges for offside have the Canadiens made? Just one, and it was successful.
Turns out St-Louis was right, the Canadiens have lost more goals than any other team to offside challenges this season, perhaps there’s some work to be done on zone entries…
Follow Karine on X @KarineHains Bluesky @karinehains.bsky.social and Threads @karinehains.
Bookmark The Hockey News Canadiens' page for all the news and happenings around the Canadiens.
Join the discussion by signing up to the Canadiens' roundtable on The Hockey News.
Subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here.