David Pastrnak, Bruins upset, confused by nullified OT goal

TAMPA, Fla. -- Star winger David Pastrnak said it was "a joke" that his apparent game-winning overtime goal was nullified by a penalty in the Boston Bruins' eventual 6-5 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Sunday's Stadium Series game.

With the scored tied at 5 in the 3-on-3 overtime, Pastrnak took a pass from forward Marat Khusnutdinov and shot the puck past Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy. Pastrnak stretched his arms out and celebrated, appearing to win the game at Raymond James Stadium at 4:38 of overtime.

But the goal was quickly waved off. Referee Jon McIsaac had given Pastrnak a penalty for slashing Lightning defenseman J.J. Moser to help the Bruins earn possession of the puck. Instead of scoring the game-winning goal, Pastrnak ended up in the penalty box.

The Lightning didn't convert on their power play but ended up winning the game 6-5 in a shootout. The final play saw Pastrnak clang a shot off the goal cage, failing to beat Vasilevskiy.

What frustrated Pastrnak and the Bruins in overtime was a late whistle after they had possession of the puck and were skating up ice. Per NHL rules, play should have been stopped as soon as Boston gained possession on a delayed penalty.

Goalie Jeremy Swayman, who was standing right near McIsaac, even started skating to the bench to give Boston an extra attacker because he hadn't heard a whistle.

"I'm skating up the ice with the ref and his hand's in the air and I was like, 'On who?'" said Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy, who was on the ice during the overtime sequence. "I couldn't believe he called another penalty [on us]. We go down with the puck, so I was like, 'Oh, it's on them.' Sway made it halfway to the bench and then he just blew it dead."

McAvoy claims he didn't hear any whistle to stop play.

"There wasn't a whistle," he said. "We skated all the way down to the other end, and he blew it dead. I don't know, the puck might have already been in the net and then he blew it dead. So really I'm just confused."

Pastrnak was also confused -- and more than a little upset.

"I have no clue what happened, honestly," he said. "It's a freaking turnover. We got a 2-and-1. A referee has an arm up and is letting it go. Sway is going to the bench. We finish the play, score a goal and all of a suddenly I'm in the penalty box. So [it's a] joke.

"I don't understand. I've never seen something like that. So to me, it was [a] joke. I don't care if that's a bad answer, but that's how I feel. It's weird. Score a goal and end up in the penalty box, but whatever. We gave them two points and that's what matters and that's tough on us."

Lightning forward Brandon Hagel, who was back defending Pastrnak on the overtime play, was also baffled.

"I didn't really know what was going on but I was like, 'Dang, I got to take a two on one here.' I wasn't very good at it. Thank God it was a penalty," he said, with a laugh. "It was kind of weird. I didn't really know what was going on. [Nikita Kucherov] just like gave up, the other guy gave up. [I thought] there must be a penalty."

Lightning coach Jon Cooper said there was no confusion on his bench. Despite Swayman and other not hearing a whistle, Tampa Bay was confident that the goal wouldn't count and it would go on the power play itself.

"I think it was different for the crowd than it was for us," he said. "We knew the penalty was being called on them. I think McAvoy was saying something to ref. I was just shocked he didn't blow the whistle. Then by the time they got to the blue line, he must've blown it five times. We clearly heard on the ice on our bench. I thought they just shot it in the net rudely, but clearly nobody heard the whistle. But it had gone."

The overtime confusion capped a night of frustration for the Bruins when it came to the officiating. Boston earned double the minor penalties of Tampa Bay in the game (10 to 5). At one point, Tampa Bay trailed, 5-1. It scored three power-play goals -- including ones by Darren Raddysh and Nick Paul that were set up by Kucherov on 5-on-3 man-advantages -- to make it a one-goal game entering the third period.

Ignoring the penalties given to Swayman and Vasilevskiy for their memorable goalie fight, the Bruins were whistled for six minor penalties in the second period to just one for the Lightning.