Dallas Stars win Coaches Challenge to prevent Brad Boyes from scoring go-ahead goal

Early in the first period, Brad Boyes scored for the Toronto Maple Leafs. It was a great moment; it was Boyes’ first goal as a member of the Leafs, fifteen years after been drafted by them. Byron Froese grabbed his first NHL point. As well, I mean, the Leafs had the lead! For about a minute, until Jamie Benn tied things back up.

But Boyes seemed poised to keep things going. Just a few minutes later, he scored again; or so we thought. Lindy Ruff and the Dallas Stars felt something was a little messed up, and they were proven right.

You’re probably looking at this and wondering what exactly the issue is. You don’t see a high stick, kicked in puck, goaltender interference, or any of the like. It’s a good clean goal, or so you’d think. In reality, Byron Froese’s offensive zone entry was far from controlled. He lost the puck when crossing the blue line, to the point where it put the play offside.

It’s a tough call, but the Stars staff noticed it immediately, called upstairs, and verified the error. It’s an odd situation in the sense that it didn’t have a major effect on the play; Dallas had regained possession of the puck at one point, after all, but at the end of the day, it’s a broken rule on a play that involved a goal.

Besides, we should have all seen this coming. Teams from Texas winning key video reviews over teams from Toronto appears to have become a bit of a tradition lately.

The Leafs and stars remain tied at one after twenty minutes.