The craziness of the Stanley Cup Playoffs got an early start Wednesday.
The Bruins were tied with the Carolina Hurricanes in their first-round series Game 1 at Toronto's Scotiabank Arena when Charlie Coyle appeared to give Boston the lead about five minutes into the second period.
Carolina challenged the goal, however, arguing the Bruins committed an illegal hand pass that should have nullified the score.
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After a brief conference, though, officials upheld the goal -- with a curious explanation.
When Hurricanes goaltender Petr Mrazek covered the puck, he negated the illegal hand pass, thus making Coyle's score a good goal.
In theory, officials should have blown the play dead when Mrazek covered the puck. But they allowed play to continue, and because Carolina specifically challenged the hand pass, the result was an unsuccessful challenge and a subsequent Bruins power play.
Alas, hockey karma came swiftly for the B's: Carolina's Brock McGinn scored a short-handed goal just 15 seconds into Boston's power play to tie the score at 2-2.