NHL apologized for Game 7 call, Knights GM says

The NHL apologized to the Vegas Golden Knights for the on-ice referees' game misconduct and major cross-checking penalties, which set the stage for the San Jose Sharks to storm back from a 3-0 deficit in the third period and win Game 7 of their series and advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Golden Knights general manager George McPhee said Thursday that the league "did reach out and apologize," according to a report on ESPN.com. Yahoo Sports reported that the NHL made no public statement regarding an apology.

After the call, the Sharks, who at one point trailed in the series 3-1, scored four straight goals in about four minutes to take a 4-3 lead. While Jonathan Marchessault's goal with 47 seconds left in regulation pulled the Golden Knights back even at 4-4, the Sharks won the game, 5-4, 1:41 into overtime on a goal by Barclay Goodrow. McPhee said the organization would not harp on the call, although he appreciated the NHL's acknowledgment of the error.

"With respect to this organization, there will be no pity parties," McPhee said. "We're not feeling sorry for ourselves. Stuff happens in games. We're going to take the rearview mirror out and move forward and put a real good team on the ice next year. We're not going to carry around a big suitcase full of yesterdays. That's not going to happen." The sequence in dispute ended up with the Sharks' Joe Pavelski lying on the ice bleeding after he had won a faceoff against the Knights' Cody Eakin.

After the faceoff, Eakin cross-checked Pavelski in the midsection, sending him backward into the Knights' Paul Stastny. That collision sent Pavelski down hard, his head slamming the ice, and he began to bleed heavily. At the time, neither of the referees Eric Furlatt, nor Dan O'Halloran, signaled for a penalty, though they ultimately ruled that Pavelski was hit in the head and they used their discretion to give Eakin a major penalty for cross-checking and a game misconduct with 10:47 left in regulation.

ESPN and scoutingtherefs.com also reported that neither O'Halloran nor Furlatt would be officiating in the second round of the playoffs. The NHL chooses which refs and linesmen advance. The O'Halloran-Furlatt pairing is one of two completely eliminated from moving on.

Notable is that O'Halloran hasn't missed a conference final in more than a decade, and the Knights-Sharks game was his 212th career playoff game, which leads all active refs, ESPN reported. --Field Level Media