How an October botched call could cost the Avalanche a playoff spot

The NHL admitted it made a mistake on an offside call back in October, and now that botched call could end up costing the Colorado Avalanche a spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs down the stretch.

On Oct. 19, the Colorado Avalanche faced off against the St. Louis Blues in what appeared at the time to be a harmless divisional matchup. But as it would turn out, an unfortunate error that transpired could have serious unseen implications down the stretch as the Western Conference playoff race winds down.

Late in the game, the Blues led 4-3 with less than three minutes to go when Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen seemingly tied the game on a pass from Sven Andrighetto. St.Louis challenged the play and found that Andrighetto was offside — but on his previous entry into the offensive zone, not the scoring play. Thus, the play should not have been subject to challenge.

Instead, the officials and situation room incorrectly reviewed the first zone entry, which happened less than two seconds earlier before Andrighetto skated back onside. The original entry was indeed offside by a few feet, but the call on the ice can only be overturned based on the call made on the entry into the offensive zone before a goal. The call on the ice was overturned in the misunderstanding and St. Louis would retain and hold the 4-3 lead until the end of the game, securing two points for themselves and leaving Colorado with zero.

The next day, the NHL admitted that the wrong call on ice was made, and that goal should have been awarded to Colorado, which would’ve tied the game at 4-4 and likely sent it to overtime, securing both teams a point. With the game taking place so early in the season, it hardly seemed to matter and likely wouldn’t have an effect on playoff implications, especially since the Avalanche were predicted by few to make it anywhere near the playoffs following the previous season’s disaster of posting just 49 points.

Fast forward to today. The Avalanche and Blues are deadlocked in a playoff race as the season winds down, with a mere point separating the two. The Avalanche lead the Blues with 93 points compared to St.Louis’s 92, but St. Louis has a game in hand that could make the difference.

Should the correct call on the ice have been made back in October, Colorado would have a two-point lead over the Blues even if the Avs had ended up losing the game in overtime, nullifying St. Louis’s game in hand. St.Louis also holds the season series tie breaker at the moment should the two teams be tied after Saturday.

The Avalanche don’t have the advantage of a healthy roster down the stretch, either, especially since they just announced they will be missing starting goaltender Semyon Varlamov (lower body injury) and top-four defenseman Erik Johnson (fractured patella) for the rest of the season. Their final two games are against the San Jose Sharks on Thursday and a possible deciding matchup against the Blues on the final day of the season on Saturday. It’s simply too perfect.

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The Avalanche are 1-4 in their last five games, but it could all come down to the final day against St. Louis, and you’d hope the point that was left on the board back in October isn’t the deciding factor. The NHL admitted the call on the ice was wrong, and for a team to miss the playoffs as a result of that call would be a less-than-ideal scenario for the NHL.