Behind the scenes of an NHL offside review

There is no penalty associated with offside — just a stoppage in play. The intent is to stop players from cherry-picking. The linesmen are responsible for stopping play as soon as an offside happens, but as humans, they sometimes miss things.

The NHL has been around far longer than video review has even been possible, so for most of the league’s history, if the linesman didn’t catch an offside in the moment, any ensuing goals would count.

But when current Dallas Stars forward Matt Duchene scored a goal after being at least a foot offside in 2013, the pressure intensified for the NHL to institute a review process to cover offside, goaltender interference and a few other things.

It was in place by the beginning of the 2015-16 season, and the league has been a different place ever since. As mentioned, it gives one team a glimmer of hope and the other a pit in its stomach.

There’s one nuance that affected both Monday’s Utah-Vegas game and Sunday’s contest between the Anaheim Ducks and the Edmonton Oilers.

See, throughout the bulk of the game, plays are only reviewed if a team issues a coach’s challenge. It comes with a risk: If you’re wrong, your team takes a two-minute penalty, which could result in your team being down an additional goal.

But in sudden-death overtime, a penalty would not affect the game, as the goal that results from a failed challenge ends the game.

For that reason, every goal scored in overtime or the last minute of regulation — in both the playoffs and the regular season — is automatically reviewed by the league’s situation room for all potential factors. The on-ice officials make the final call based on the angles and information given by the folks in the situation room.

Vegas Golden Knights left wing Ivan Barbashev (49) and center Brett Howden (21) celebrate the game-winning goal by Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Shea Theodore (27), not pictured, during overtime of Game 4 of a first-round NHL Stanley Cup playoff series against the Utah Mammoth at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Monday, April 27, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News