Colorado Avalanche coach Jared Bednar says nothing to controversy surrounding Nazem Kadri's Game 4-winning goal

TAMPA, Fla. — Jared Bednar said there was «nothing» to the controversy surrounding Nazem Kadri's game-winning goal in the Colorado Avalanche's 3-2 overtime victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday.

Kadri scored midway through the extra frame to give the Avalanche a 3-1 series lead, with a chance to close the Lightning out in Game 5 on Friday.

Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper was first to say in his (brief) news conference Wednesday night that the goal shouldn't have counted. Video replay appeared to show that Colorado had too many men on the ice when Kadri scored, and that it was Kadri who made an improper line change seconds before Nathan MacKinnon got back to the bench.

Bednar said he watched the footage too but didn't see anything wrong with how Colorado executed.

«I thought it was nothing, honestly,» he said Thursday. «That's part of the game. It's a fluid game. You're changing on the fly, everything happens. You look at that clip, you back that clip up — and I did multiple times just to see what they were talking about — and Tampa's got two guys jumping on with their D coming off the ice from a zone away. I count 7-6 at one point. So that is what it is. That's the way the game is played. I don't see it as a break or no-break. I actually see it as nothing.»

Cooper and the Lightning clearly felt differently. And initially at least, it looked as if Tampa Bay had a point. The NHL's initial game sheet listed six players on the ice for that Kadri goal. The sheet was later amended to list only five.

The NHL's official response was that a too-many-men penalty is a judgment call by the officials and is not reviewable.

«Following the game, Hockey Operations met with the four officials