EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Chris Knoblauch continues to make all the right moves to lead the Edmonton Oilers to the Stanley Cup Final.
The coach, who took over in November, successfully challenged a Florida Panthers goal in a key moment in Game 6 of the finals when an offside call ruled out Aleksander Barkov's goal 10 seconds after Adam Henrique had scored to give the Oilers a 2-0 lead.
Officials, consulting with the NHL's situation room in Toronto, found that Sam Reinhart had been in the zone an inch or so before Barkov brought the ball in. The sellout crowd of more than 18,000 erupted in cheers after Chris Rooney called the play offside and called the goal off.
Knoblauch has been pressing the right buttons throughout the playoffs, from switching goalies in the second round to tweaking the lineup throughout. Had the challenge failed, Edmonton would have received a two-minute minor penalty, per league rules, and Florida would have had a chance to tie the game on the power play.
The Oilers had lost 10 of their first 13 games when Jay Woolcroft was fired and Knoblock was hired. Knoblock coached Connor McDavid as a junior with the Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League a decade ago.
AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL
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