Playoff hockey is a game of inches, and the Winnipeg Jets may have lost a goal by even less than that on Thursday night.
Trailing 3-0 to the St. Louis Blues in Game 3, the Jets went on the power play midway through the second period. On the ensuing man advantage, Jets forward Cole Perfetti was seemingly robbed by Jordan Binnington with a spectacular glove save after a cross-ice pass from Mark Scheifele.
However, Perfetti immediately pointed towards the net, indicating that he thought Binnington's glove was across the goal line when he made the save.
Officials then went to review to see if Perfetti was, in fact, correct. But after over four minutes of replays, the call on the ice stood. According to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman, the NHL Situation Room did not have conclusive evidence in order to overturn the original no-goal call.
"I saw his glove in the net," a clearly frustrated Perfetti told reporters post-game about his reaction on the ice. "Obviously, he made a great save, but I was on the goal line and I saw his glove in the net and (the) puck in the mesh of the glove."
The Jets forward said earlier in his post-game availability that the video he saw after the play seemed to show pretty conclusively that he had registered his first career playoff goal.
"I mean, I saw video on the bench that looked pretty evident," he said when asked if the puck was in. "I mean, I don't know what video they saw. From what I understand, they said they didn't have an angle of it, and meanwhile, it was on the scoreboard and the crowd kinda went 'Aww.'
"Based on their reaction, I thought it was in the net. I thought you could see the puck on its side in his glove in the net. I don't know what else you gotta do, but if it wasn't a goal, it was a good save and it's good luck."
At the intermission, Friedman compared the play to a first-round series between the Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings in Game 5 of last year's post-season. On that date, the Situation Room overturned a similar-looking Leon Draisaitl shot because the puck conclusively crossed the line.
"I cannot wait for the day — and I know they've been kinda testing this — when they will have a chip and a tracking system they are comfortable with, so that we will never have to worry about any of this stuff again," Friedman said.
Winnipeg was unable to convert on the power play once the action resumed.
"It would have been nice to get that one and get the power play rolling, get us back in the game." Perfetti later continued. "I thought it was a goal, but who knows?"
With a potential goal lost, the Jets carried their 3-0 deficit into the second intermission — on their way to a 7-2 blowout loss.
Game 4 goes Sunday from St. Louis, as the Jets will look to take a 3-1 series lead back to Winnipeg. You can catch the action on Sportsnet or Sportsnet+, starting at noon PT / 1 p.m. ET.
