The Madison Square Garden crowd began Friday night by celebrating one of its favorite Rangers of all time with Henrik Lundqvist’s number retirement ceremony.
Those fans ended the night by hurling trash onto the ice in protest of what would have been a dramatic game-tying goal.
As the final seconds ticked off the clock, New York crashed Wild goalie Cam Talbot and unloaded a barrage of pressure, and after a centering pass found its way to the front of the net, the Rangers swarmed the loose puck before it slid in past Talbot with one second to go.
The crowd erupted, while the officials immediately waived off the goal.
Replay review confirmed to the officials that Ryan Strome’s stick pushed Talbot’s leg pad behind the goal line and into the net, allowing the puck to sneak through, and the goal was waved off. The Rangers lost a heartbreaker, while the home fans let off some steam by throwing empty water bottles and other objects onto the ice, while Minnesota escaped MSG with a 3-2 win to spoil Lundqvist’s special evening.
“I don’t know. I obviously don’t agree with it,” Mika Zibanejad said of the call. “Can’t say much more than that unfortunately…I don’t agree. I’ll leave it at that.
“I don’t want to go into it, to be honest with you. I just don’t agree.”
Head coach Gerard Gallant had a calmer response than the fans, understanding why the call was made, while acknowledging that it could have gone either way.
“It’s a tough call,” Gallant said. “We’d love that goal to count. You look at the video, it’s a 50/50 call. You want your guys to battle for pucks like that. Did his stick touch the pad and push it in? Yeah. I’m hoping for that call, because the guys are battling and didn’t try to push the pad in, but I understand the call. It’s a tough call to make.”
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