The Vegas Golden Knights had a 3-0 lead in Game 7 of the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs. They were outplaying the Sharks and had them on lockdown.
Joe Pavelski won a face-off against Cody Eakin. In turn, Eakin cross-checks Pavelski, who fell into Paul Stastny and slammed his head onto the ice hard. The resulting play was a five-minute major that would change the Golden Knights' season for the worse.
San Jose would score four power play goals in that sequence and take the lead. Sure, Jonathan Marchessault would tie things up and send it to overtime. But Barclay Goodrow would send Vegas packing with an overtime goal, winning the series for the Sharks.
It's a day many Sharks fans will never forget, particularly with Tomas Hertl's stellar performance. He scored a goal and an assist in that contest, propelling San Jose to victory.
But you know what's coming. It's akin to the person fresh out of California who doesn't know how to drive in Las Vegas. You know they're going to cause a devastating car accident sooner or later.
What if that major wasn't called? What if it were a minor penalty, instead? Let's hop back into that ol' time machine and see what would've happened.