Watch: Refs miss Duchene offside on goal

Even Matt Duchene was surprised the referees missed the call.

Duchene was blatantly offside when he received a pass from P.A. Parenteau, setting up a second-period goal during the Colorado Avalanche’s victory over the Nashville Predators Monday.

The Avalanche forward expected the play to be blown dead when it was clear that he was in the Predators’ zone before the puck crossed the blue line.
“I was shocked,” Duchene told reporters after the game. “Even after I shot it, I thought maybe I missed something. Like I said, I didn’t see the play. It might have been a good call by the linesman, but from what I heard, it wasn’t.
“We’re not complaining, that’s for sure,” Duchene said.
To the dismay of the Predators and head coach Barry Trotz, the Avalanche ended up winning the game 6-5 although the disputed Duchene goal did not happen to be the game-winning tally.

Trotz told reporters after the game that he had already spoken to the league, who confirmed that the referees missed the offside.

“The league already verified that it should have been an offside,” Trotz said. “The explanation from the crew here was that we passed it back. We didn’t pass it back. That’s why they didn’t blow the whistle. The league’s already talked to us about it. There’s no fix. It’s just one of those things. Everybody has a bad day.”

There is an element of human error that takes place with referees but at what point can mistakes like this continue to effect games. In a shortened season, these mistakes can be ever so costly.

POLL:

Should the NHL add coach’s challenges?

    $(“#poll_11642”).v2Poll({poll_id: 11642});

    When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.