The Florida Panthers couldn't believe a late slash in San Jose went uncalled Thursday night, and Carter Verhaeghe was the one left on a knee in front of the net.
"Cats can't believe this slash wasn't called," Jameson Olive posted.
In the clip, Verhaeghe is down on a knee in white No. 23 beside a Sharks player, while a Florida teammate near the boards throws an arm in the air.
The scoreboard read 3-3 with 3:51 on the third-period clock.
Missing that in a tie game this late is a bad look for the officials, and in a night this chippy, it's exactly the kind of call that sets everyone off.
It's the ref at your kid's soccer game missing a handball right in front of him. Every parent in the bleachers saw it except the one person holding the whistle.
Was it the final straw? Olive had already said the Sharks got away with some high sticks earlier in the night.
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Florida's comeback from 3-1 down ends in an overtime loss
The Panthers trailed by two after 40 minutes and clawed back to tie it.
Shots were nearly even late in regulation, 24-23 for San Jose.
Eetu Luostarinen scored twice, and Matthew Tkachuk had the other Florida goal.
San Jose found a fourth goal in overtime to win it 4-3.
Will Smith finished with two goals and an assist for the Sharks.
Akira Schmid made 29 saves in the Florida net, while Yaroslav Askarov stopped 23 at the other end.
Verhaeghe carries a $7,000,000 cap hit and had an assist in the opener.
This was the same game that featured majors for Brady Tkachuk and Jacob Trouba, plus Darnell Nurse's cross-check on Matthew Tkachuk.
All of it came on a night Florida also watched Aleksander Barkov head down the tunnel after an awkward fall.
The Panthers head to Anaheim on Sunday, and the Sharks host Los Angeles on Saturday.
Florida leaves San Jose with a point and a grievance list. The February 21 rematch can't come soon enough.
Did the officials cost the Panthers this game in San Jose?
Also read on Markerzone.com:
Brady Tkachuk cheap-shots Macklin Celebrini then gets rocked by Jacob Trouba


