Why Connor McDavid’s last-second overtime goal against the Panthers counted

The Florida Panthers found out exactly what it’s like to give Connor McDavid space and time.

Last night, McDavid blew by the Panthers on a missed Florida play with seconds to go in 3-on-3 overtime. Somehow, the Oilers’ captain had the time to make a dozen or so stick-handling moves before putting the puck glove-side on Panthers netminder James Reimer.

Easy enough, right? With three seconds to go, McDavid collected his third point of the evening on the game winner in OT. Oilers win.

Well, it wasn’t without controversy. Reimer actually had the puck in his glove the whole time, and the Panthers argued that exact point when the play went to a review. Yet, the officials came back with the consensus that the puck crossed the line while still in Reimer’s glove.

A goaltender stopping a puck on the goal line isn’t a rare occurrence, and even close calls have gone the way of netminders because there is a shadow of doubt. Where Reimer’s case unfortunately falls apart is his glove placement.

Should Reimer have trapped the puck and his glove right against the goal post, the puck would have been outside the goal line and the Oilers and Panthers would have gone to a shootout.

Instead, the puck on multiple angles clearly is over the goal line in the webbing of Reimer’s glove.

It’s hard not to wonder, looking at some of the more famous goal-line saves, what the result would have been if Reimer’s glove was black instead of white. Mike Smith has had a few close calls go in his favor because his all-black padding made it hard to see the all-black puck.

Back in 2012, Ilya Bryzgalov robbed Evgeni Malkin on a very similar glove save that may have also been in the net, but with his black glove it was inconclusive.

Reimer, in the postgame scrum, wasn’t a fan of the call, according to George Richards of the Miami Herald.

“I don’t think any goalie would agree with that call,” Reimer told reporters postgame. “I’m sure 20,000 people here thought it went in, but I knew I had it in my glove. I didn’t know if it crossed the line or not.

“When I saw the replay, I thought the call might go our way. That’s not the way they saw it. You go on with life, and I will take with it what I think I can.

“You just move on. They said my glove was in the net. That’s the explanation I got.”

General manager and interim head coach Tom Rowe, however, did agree with the referee’s decision.

“The video was clear; they had a good view of it in Toronto, had a view of it on the ice. As tough as it is, it was the right call.”

Rowe’s right. The puck was clearly across the goal line, and the white of Reimer’s glove only made it easier for the referees to go with their original call on the ice. Case closed.