It happened again.
There have been countless situations — with DeAndre Ayton and Nikola Jokic and Evander Kane and more — in which an official stat rebound, assist, steal or shot on goal had been called into question by vengeful bettors.
On Monday, the Pittsburgh Penguins' Jake Guentzel pulled up for a shot against the Montreal Canadiens with 1:07 remaining in the third period with the score tied 2-2.
Canadiens goaltender Sam Montembeault made an arm save as the puck ricocheted off to the side, but the official scorer did not award Guentzel this shot on goal.
It would have been Guentzel's fourth of the night, putting him over his total of 3.5. A number of parlays — including one as high as +3278 — were hanging on this one prop bet.
He didn't have another shot on goal before the Penguins lost in OT.
As in the NBA, the NHL employs an independent official scorer to determine goals, assists, shots on goal and other player statistics throughout the course of a contest. The scorer can also be buoyed by other scorers, namely a "Video Goal Judge" who determines which player was the last to touch the puck before a good goal.
As the Action Network reported earlier this year, the NBA takes measures to ensure technology corrects any mistakes made by scorers. It's unclear what the NHL employs for its system.
Judge for yourself as to whether Guentzel's attempt constitutes a "shot on goal."
@FDSportsbook so… rakell shot eh pic.twitter.com/CjNsLDawow
— Oneil Cruz Truther (@Dylan_Means4) October 18, 2022
The NHL's official ruling for what encompasses a shot on goal is: "If a player shoots the puck with the intention of scoring and if that shot would have gone in the net had the goaltender not stopped it, the shot is recorded as a 'shot on goal.'"
The scorers in this scenario determined that the shot would not have gone into the net with no goaltender present, and thus Guentzel's attempt could not constitute a shot on goal.
No sportsbook has awarded a refund of the bet in question.
BetMGM spokesperson John Ewing said, "All bets graded at [the] end of [a] contest [is] based on official scoring from that night."
A DraftKings representative said no refund would be made.
PointsBet acknowledged the potential discrepancy and said they would look into it.
Representatives from FanDuel and WynnBet have yet to respond to inquiries made by the Action Network.
