DALLAS — In the pre-eye-in-the-sky days of hockey, Brenden Morrow’s goal, late in the third period of Saturday’s matinee between the Avalanche and Dallas, almost certainly would have counted. It would have taken a referee with some serious moxie to have overturned Morrow’s would-be tying goal, with a howling American Airlines Center chanting “goal, goal, goal.”
Fortunately for the Avs, the “war room” in Toronto, where questionable goals are reviewed by the latest video technology, is away from the madding crowd. In was in that neutral place that NHL video review officials disallowed Morrow’s goal and the Avs hung on for a 5-4 victory.
Rule 67.6 of the NHL rulebook — that a goal shall be disallowed if a puck is directed into the net by a player’s glove — rescued the Avs from another third-period, near-total meltdown.
“We’ll take it,” said winning Avs goalie Andrew Raycroft, who matched his total from all of last season with his second victory. “I thought it just went off his pants or something at first, but when they showed the replay it was pretty obvious that he moved his glove into it.”
Leading 5-2 after two periods and with Stars fans booing their team off the ice, the Avs started taking penalties and getting lax defensively and, before they knew it, it was 5-4 just 6:47 into the period on goals by Loui Eriksson and Brad Richards. Then, 40 seconds after Scott Hannan was sent to the penalty box for tripping, Morrow appeared to have tied it at 12:29 with a deflection in front after a lead pass from Richards near the half-boards.
But the Avs — partly with the help of video coach PJ DeLuca, who radioed down to the bench — immediately signaled to referees Gord Dwyer and Tim Peel that the play should be reviewed. From there, NHL hockey operations officials at the war room — attached to the Air Canada Centre in Toronto — overruled the goal. Replays did show Morrow propelled the puck forward with his left glove.
“A couple games ago, we were having trouble winning games that were tight. Fortunately, (today), we got a break on a disallowed goal. It was a heck of a game,” Avs coach Tony Granato said. “Points are at a premium, and we were able to find a way to get two.”
Morrow went from potential hero to probably his team’s biggest goat with his conduct after the non-goal. With his team still carrying the play, Morrow took an unsportsmanlike penalty with 6:55 left, then with 1:08 left he was called for slashing. Despite that, the Avs gave up a couple of great chances in the final minute.
“The puck hit off me. I didn’t intentionally hit it in,” Morrow said. “I know what happened. It just bounced off my glove, and it wasn’t intentional by any means. I let my frustration get the best of me and put us short-handed.”
The Avs got a great first two periods from the line of Milan Hejduk (two goals), Paul Stastny (two assists) and Ryan Smyth (one goal), and Wojtek Wolski set up goals by Darcy Tucker and Tyler Arnason, both off steals and deft passing. The Avs’ power play was strong, going 2-for-8.
“It was kind of an odd game, but it’s a huge win for us on the road,” defenseman Adam Foote said.
Adrian Dater: 303-954-2778 or adater@denverpost.com
Avs Recap
Three stars
1. Milan Hejduk.
Avs winger scored twice, giving him five goals on the young season.
2. Paul Stastny.
Avs center had two assists and won 16-of-29 faceoffs.
3. Brad Richards.
Stars center scored a goal and added an assist.
What you might have missed
After much back and forth following the game among league officials, the Avs’ fourth goal of the game was officially credited to Ryan Smyth — after originally being awarded to him, then to John-Michael Liles, then back to Smyth.
Up next
At Los Angeles, Monday at 8:30 p.m.
