Drenched head to toe in sweat, Wild players learned seconds after Saturday's 2-1 heartbreaker of a loss to the Vancouver Canucks that for the second time in two weeks, a critical Wild goal that should have counted didn't.
And, for the second time in two weeks, the discovery came after a video replay appeared way too late, something that even miffed an NHL executive during a telephone interview with the Star Tribune on Sunday.
Saturday, with the score tied 1-1 in the second period, Pascal Dupuis shot a puck that hit Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo's mask inside the net before it fell and blended with Luongo's dark blue uniform.
There was a 10-minute review, but video goal judge Frank Broeders, supervisor of officials Bob Hall and officials in the league's video review room in Toronto finally agreed there was no conclusive evidence the puck crossed the goal line.
Since the referees ruled it no goal, it stayed no goal.
In the third period, CBC's "Hockey Night in Canada," which was televising the game, blew up an overhead angle that showed the puck clearly over the goal line.
"It's inexcusable, really," Wild left winger Brian Rolston said.
There are imperfections with the NHL's video review system. Saturday, a number of them united to sabotage the Wild.
First, while the in-arena video goal judge has access to overhead views of both nets, the Toronto "war room" does not. It's at the mercy of the TV broadcast showing the overhead.
"That's why we waited so long to make a decision," NHL Senior Vice President Colin Campbell told the Star Tribune. "We were waiting and waiting [in Toronto] for CBC to show the overhead."
Campbell wanted to see the overhead because CBC, as it eventually did, would be able to slow the video in a way the league cannot.
"We don't have the resources and access to the replay machines that the TV trucks have," Campbell said.
Which points to the next major problem.
"Our overheads need to be replaced," Campbell said. "They're too old, hence you get that fuzzy look."
Campbell said Saturday's trouble could have been avoided if CBC had shown the blown-up overhead sooner.
A member of the Fox Sports Net North group that travels with the Wild said a CBC crew member told him that an operator in the TV truck has the job of recording play by switching between the two overheads. Only one end is recorded at a time.
"When the goal happened, this guy had the wrong end cut in even though play was in the other end," said the FSN employee, who asked not to be identified. He said FSN didn't have the view because it gets that feed from CBC's truck.
According to the FSN employee, CBC eventually got the view in the third period because it "ran up to the review booth because [the NHL] TiVos both overheads. [CBC] copied it on a VHS tape and showed that, which is why it looked all grainy."
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