Why wasn’t Luke Kunin’s goal overturned?

The lengthy offside review seemed like an open and shut case, but the result was surprising.

During the second period against the Anaheim Ducks, the San Jose Sharks’ power play got a chance to flex on a weak penalty kill once again and it was Luke Kunin who beat Anthony Stolarz on the man-advantage to give the Sharks a 3-2 lead with 3:25 remaining in the second period.

However, Anaheim challenged that forward Alexander Barabanov, who was in the midst of a line change, was offside.

Because Barabanov was trying to get through the bench door, which is located just inside the offensive zone, and his skates came off the ice before the puck crossed into the zone, he was not considered to be offside, as he was not an active player once his skates left the ice. The call on the ice was originally a good goal, and because the review couldn’t conclusively consider Barabanov an active, offside player, the original call would stand.

The Ducks had already been playing a skater down when Kunin scored and thanks to the failed challenge, were assessed another penalty for delay of game, served by Trevor Zegras. The Sharks did not score on the resulting power play.

San Jose will start the third period up 3-2. The earlier goals were scored by Kevin Labanc and Timo Meier.

Luke Kunin has two goals on the season so far, both scored on the power play. They also mark Kunin’s only career goals scored on the power play.