There has been a lot of confusion over the result of the game between Carolina and Columbus Sunday night. By way of a recap, The Hurricanes scored a goal late in the second period to give the team a 4-3 lead. The goal, scored by Vincent Trocheck, was clearly offside and challenged by the Blue Jackets because of that. It was ruled a good goal and Columbus was given a penalty for delay of game after losing the challenge. During the intermission, with 45 seconds remaining on the penalty, the league ruled the goal was indeed offside and the remainder of the penalty was cancelled, but the goal remained and Carolina would end up winning the game by one goal, a final score of 6-5.

re this 🧵—
per @shelleyhawk45 it's believed on the reverse angle that Trochek was in fact, offside, the penalty has been taken off the board. The goal remains. #CBJ #Canes https://t.co/436M41MaTo pic.twitter.com/o2L6Po99bW— Alison (@AlisonL) February 7, 2021

Many were left scratching their heads, wondering why the penalty would be cancelled but the goal remained. It turns out there's an official rules covering that.

Rule 37.2: Any potential goal requiring video review must be reviewed prior to and/or during the next stoppage of play.

No goal may be awarded (or disallowed) as a result of a Video Review once the puck has been dropped and play has resumed.

To be clear, I am by no means suggesting this is a GOOD reason why the goal was not overturned, but it is the official reason from the NHL. The Blue Jackets have every right to be upset as that goal that should have been overturned ended up costing them the game. The league states a "miscommunication" led to the wrong call being made.

Official word from the NHL Situation Room on the Carolina offside goal. A "miscommunication" occurred. #CBJ pic.twitter.com/YVQAGPJUzt— Jeff Svoboda (@JacketsInsider) February 7, 2021

That's fine, humans make mistakes. However, imagine this happened in the playoffs. How about during game 7 of a seven game series? Imagine if that game seven happened to be in the Stanley Cup final. It's completely understandable that the NHL followed its rule to determine whether the goal would be overturned, but there has to be a provision that allows officials to make decisions on a case-by-case basis.

Surprisingly, Columbus head coach John Tortorella was mostly calm when asked about the goal, only saying he would allow the NHL to explain it. Patrik Laine called it the "biggest joke I've ever seen."

Incidents like this further taint the NHL's image when it comes to officiating, an image that isn't good to begin with. We'll have to wait and see if it leads to further changes.