Last Saturday afternoon, the Edmonton Oilers lost in overtime to the Buffalo Sabres, with Owen Power scoring with just seconds left. It was a disappointing loss for the Oilers, and they quickly headed to the dressing room.
But, as it turns out, the Sabres were offside for the game winning goal. The fact this was under review was clearly not relayed to the teams, as both had headed down the tunnels already, and so the referees had to call them both back. The Oilers players took significantly longer to come back out, likely due to them already starting to get undressed, given they had a game less than 24 hours later in Pittsburgh.
It was a weird moment in its own right, as you’d think that at least one person on either team would have picked up on it.
The teams did eventually come back out though and restarted the game.
And it was a good thing they did too, since the Sabres won in a shootout, making the whole thing basically a huge waste of time; the Sabres also almost scored a last minute OT goal again, which honestly would have been a way better way to end it.
This isn’t the first time something weird has happened with respect to an Oilers game, and probably won’t be the last, so here are a few more instances that left everyone going “lol wut.”
St. Louis Blues, two minutes for filling out paperwork wrong, December 15, 2022
Last season, the Oilers were playing St. Louis at home when the Blues were called for a penalty 31 seconds into the game. Pretty quick for a penalty, but that hardly counts as weird, right?
Well, the weird part was what the penalty was called for.
As it turns out, Blues Coach Craig Berube ended up putting out the wrong starting lineup from what he provided before the game, which is an infraction of Rule 7.1. Berube had mistakenly started Brandon Saad, rather than Brayden Schenn.
I think my favourite part about this video is that Sportsnet did the instant replay of the faceoff but froze the image to break down that Saad was in fact on the ice.
Jay Woodcroft noticed this issue and brought it to the ref’s attention, and the Blues subsequently received a penalty. As you may recall, the Oilers had a pretty potent power play last year, and made the Blues pay for their cardinal sin of putting down the wrong name on a piece of paper (the IRS would be so proud).
There was further controversy in the game, as it looked like the Oilers had scored the game winning goal in OT, only for it to be called back for being offside:
The Blues ended up getting the last laugh when they won in the shootout, although I can’t imagine how stressed Berube must have been when it came to giving out his lineup for the shootout.
Lights out in Boston, May 24, 1988
It was Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals, and the Oilers were looking to win their second cup in a row and fourth in five years (we don’t talk about 1986).
The Oilers and Bruins were tied 3–3 in the second period when the standstill was stood even more still by the lights going out due to a blown transformer. As a result, the game could not continue.
(Also can well agree that the fog on the ice makes the game look even more epic and like that scene out of D3 where they got decimated by the varsity team?)
But it’s the finals, so they probably just replayed it the next day right?
Wrong.
It turns out the NHL had a rule for this situation, which was that if a game was unfinished, it would be replayed at the end of the series if necessary.
So the teams ended up going back to Edmonton for Game 5 (or I guess technically 4?), with the Oilers up 3–0 in the series.
The Oilers won that game to capture the puck, which is almost certainly the first time a team has won three home games in a four game sweep.
I’m sure Bruins fans were not too pleased about that, and if social media had been around the outrage would have been palpable.
To make things even weirder, the Oilers and Bruins met in the Finals again in 1990, and the lights would go out again in Boston in a tie game. The power was restored and the game continued, but for that to happen in the same rink again? A little sus, bro.
The Oilers also won the Cup that year too, so clearly the shenanigans of the Bruins arena crew unexpected circumstances didn’t phase them.
You don’t get a goal! You don’t get a goal! Nobody gets a goal!, March 21, 2023
A Monday night game against the last place team in the Conference is usually one that is destined to be one that isn’t particularly memorable. Sure, the Oilers were still trying to stave off the Seattle Kraken for third place in the Pacific while simultaneously trying to catch the Los Angeles Kings for second place and home ice, so there was still a lot to play for on their end.
Arguably, San Jose actually had even more to play for (against?) given that they were two points up on the Columbus Blue Jackets for last place in the entire league and therefore the best odds for Connor Bedard.
Well the Sharks players didn’t seem to care much about that, as they jumped out to a hot start, scoring the game’s first goal just 1:31 into the first period.
Or so they thought.
The Oilers challenged that goal due to Sharks forward Alexander Barabanov being offside, and they ended up being correct on that call.
Barabanov ended up making up for it by scoring again four minutes later, but less than a minute and a half after that Nick Bjugstad tied things up for the Oilers.
Two minutes later, the Oilers took the lead off of a Zach Hyman goal where the puck went off his body while standing in front of the crease, an area where Hyman has been known to score a goal or 31 from.
But, it was also Hyman, so that alone was likely enough for the San Jose coaching staff to challenge it for goaltender interference, and it was in fact successful.
After Kailer Yamamoto gave the Oilers a lead just 30 seconds into the second period, the Sharks came back to tie it up thanks to a Logan Couture screen.
But clearly Couture picked up on Hyman’s vibes from that same crease, as the Oilers ended up challenging for goalie interference as well, and that challenge too was successful.
The Sharks ended up scoring two quick ones after that, and the second period ended with them up 4–3, which was a score that left both fanbases not too happy.
Four minutes into the third, it looked like the game would likely end that way too, as the Sharks scored off a three-on-one to take a two-goal lead.
But can you guess what happened next?
Yup, the Oilers challenged for offsides, which seems crazy on a clear three-on-one from a team’s own blueline onwards. Like, who would risk an offside in that case?
The answer is Noah Gregor, apparently, as he stepped over the line ever so slightly before Erik Karlsson, negating the goal.
The Oilers ended up tying the game and then winning in overtime, and the “hat trick” hero, Video Coach Jeremy Coupal, became a local legend, who then left the Oilers over the summer much to everyone’s chagrin. I guess he wanted to die a hero rather than live long enough to become the villain.
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
