Why Wild got bizarre OT game-winning goal vs. Predators even though puck never went in the net

The Minnesota Wild scored a game-winning goal Tuesday night without the puck ever going into the net.

Yes, it's as weird as it sounds.

The Wild were tied 2-2 after regulation with the Nashville Predators, and they put together a slick passing move to create an open scoring chance.

The puck was flubbed wide, but as that was happening, Nashville's goalie knocked the net out of place. And that made all the difference as Minnesota was awarded a goal and a 3-2 win.

Marcus Johansson is granted the OT winner on the ice after the net was kicked off, I don't know how this stands pic.twitter.com/xbmyhCKdBg

— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) November 5, 2025

Why did Wild OT goal count vs. Predators?

The key here is the net being knocked out of place.

If a team has an "imminent" goal-scoring opportunity and the net is knocked out of place, the referees award a goal.

That, by the book, is what happened here.

The tricky part is that the outcome had actually already been seen, with the puck trickling wide.

It's hard to say if the Wild would've retrieved it from the side of the net and slotted it in before anyone could get there to block it.

But in this case, the net appeared to be knocked out of place a split-second after the puck had already misfired.

I don’t get how this could have possibly counted. Johansson missed the open net to begin with. Don’t blame the Predators for being furious. https://t.co/8wtQ7FL5KN

— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) November 5, 2025

The goal stood, and that was that.

It's not every day a winning goal never went in the goal.

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