Philadelphia Flyers fans look away.
In a huge game between the Flyers and Washington Capitals with massive playoff implications for both teams, a bizarre scenario occurred midway through the first period that saw a Flyers goal disallowed due to an early whistle on Tuesday.
The controversial call occurred when Flyers forward Joel Farabee fired a puck on net that was stopped by Capitals goaltender Charlie Lindgren with the game scoreless.
Referee Kelly Sutherland blew his whistle to stop play.
The only problem? Lindgren didn’t actually have the puck, as it instead bounced high into the air, came down and bounced off Farabee, then off Lindgren, and into the net. Sutherland immediately called the goal off to a chorus of boos from the home fans.
Sutherland then gathered the officials and the league a look at the play on replay.
“The Referee informed the Situation Room he blew his whistle to stop play when he lost sight of the puck, before it entered the Washington net,” the league said in a statement.
To be fair to Sutherland, referees are trained to blow the whistle if they lose sight of the puck.
But that’s not going to make Flyers fans or Philadelphia head coach John Tortorella feel much better.
The ever-entertaining Tortorella look perplexed as he stared up at the replay, while the fans rained down a chorus of “refs you suck” chants after the goal was officially disallowed.
It would be one thing if this goal came in a nothing game, but the Flyers needed to win in regulation to keep their slim playoff hopes alive.
The Flyers fell short, losing 2-1 on an empty-net goal by T.J. Oshie with three minutes left as Philly pulled its goalie in an effort to win in regulation.
After the game, Tortorella was asked what explanation he got from the refs for the disallowed goal.
“Next question, please,” Tortorella said, after banging the podium.