Here's what the Capitals had to say about Ovechkin's waved-off potential game-winner.
Here's what the Capitals had to say about Ovechkin's waved-off potential game-winner.
WASHINGTON — The Washington Capitals ended 2023 on a sour note, as a potential Alex Ovechkin game-winner was waved off in a controversial call, resulting in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Nashville Predators.
Ovechkin scored with just over a minute remaining in regulation on a delayed penalty call against Nashville, but the situation room in Toronto was the one to initiate the challenge, citing goaltender interference by Nic Dowd.
The officials ultimately decided that there was goaltender interference, and the goal was taken off the board. And for head coach Spencer Carbery, it was a tough call to see.
"My personal take is there's not enough there to overturn, especially to overturn it because that's where it gets tricky is when it's called a goal on the ice, it needs to be very, very evident to overturn," Carbery said. "That's the way that's been described to us from the league. And so in that situation, given that, is there enough there? It's tight. So I would've, for me, that goal should stand, but that's the situation room."
The NHL offered the following explanation for the challenge, stating Dowd violated NHL Rulebook rule 69.3.
“According to Rule 69.3, “If an attacking player initiates contact with a goalkeeper, incidental or otherwise, while the goalkeeper is in his goal crease, and a goal is scored, the goal will be disallowed,” the league said in its explanation of the challenge.
The timing was also unfortunate, as "Hockey Operations will initiate the review of any scenario that would otherwise be subject to a Coach's Challenge" in the final minute of regulation and in overtime. There were 59.5 seconds left on the clock when Ovechkin scored, though Carbery said the puck crossed the goal line before that.
"We just looked at it, so the puck actually goes in at 1:00.8 or something. So if it stops, technically, when the puck goes in the net, then they can't review it in Toronto unless it gets challenged and to your point, now you've got a choice to make of do you try to go 6-on-5 or do you risk challenging and now it's tough to come back. You'd be in a tough spot if you challenged and failed."
Washington's players were also disappointed with the way the call went.
"It's obviously frustrating. You want those to go and you're celebrating, you feel like you got it and it gets swept away from you. But you know, their job is to make those decisions, and don't always have to agree with them,” Beck Malenstyn said. “I thought it was a pretty good effort from the group overall. I thought we had some chances and dictated a lot of the play aside from maybe those first 10-15 minutes and definitely a lot for us to build on."
“What else you can do? There’s a lot of people watching so they see something, then they call it,” Evgeny Kuznetsov added. “We players, we have to play.”
In the end, the Capitals escaped with a point to close out 2023. Still, it's not the way that D.C. wanted things to end.
"Roller coaster at the end, kind of a tough way to lose one," Hunter Shepard said.
"The challenge doesn't go our way, which would have been nice to get that win and especially for O too, it's a big second goal. He scores the one at the end of the power play, but to get that one too, in dramatic fashion, would've ended 2023 in a good way."