The Tampa Bay Lightning scored three goals in their overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night. But according to Lightning head coach Jon Cooper, it should’ve been four.
Late in the second period, Maple Leafs defenceman T.J. Brodie threw a risky clearing attempt up the middle of the ice that deflected off Brayden Point and landed between the pads of Ilya Samsonov.
Point appeared to jam the puck into the net and give the Lightning a 4-2 lead, but the referee blew the play dead before it went in and the goal was waived off.
Video review confirmed the ruling.
Explaining the ruling, the NHL’s situation room said: “The Referee informed the Situation Room he blew his whistle to stop play before the puck entered the Toronto net. According to Rule 78.5 (xii), apparent goals shall be disallowed when the Referee deems the play has been stopped, even if he had not physically had the opportunity to stop play by blowing his whistle.”
After the game, Cooper had some choice words for the referee who made the call.
“I have zero idea why he blew the whistle,” Cooper said. “It’s shocking. The entire building, there was 20,000 people (who) saw it was sitting right there. What I don’t get is I don’t know what the ref had to gain by blowing the whistle.”
Cooper also noted that with how the play came about, he believes there was no way the puck could have come to a complete stop under Samsonov.
“The way the puck was delivered to the net, it was bouncing all over the place,” he explained.
The long-time bench boss of the Lightning did admit the call didn’t cost his team the game, but he figured it sure could’ve gone a long way to help change the outcome.
“Obviously unfortunate for us,” Cooper said. “It’s not why we lost. Would have helped but not why we lost.”
The Lightning also had one of their goals earlier in the game waived off by an early whistle while the puck was under Samsonov. However, after a review, this call was overturned and the goal counted.
While the two plays were very similar, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said there was one main difference between why one counted and the other did not — how the puck entered the net. The first goal was not touched by a Lightning player other than the original shooter before it slid into the net, while the second was jammed in by Point.
“If it had gone directly in, I think that one counts,” Friedman said of the waived-off goal. “But because Point pokes it in, I don’t think they do it.”
The NHL’s situation room said: “Video review determined that Brandon Hagel’s original shot completely crossed the Toronto goal line as the culmination of a continuous play where the result was unaffected by the whistle. The decision was made in accordance with Rule 37.3 (i) which outlines goal situations subject to video review, such as a Puck entering the net as the culmination of a continuous play where the result of the play was unaffected by any whistle blown by the Referee upon his losing sight of the puck.
The Lightning now trail the Maple Leafs 2-1 in the seven-game series. You can watch Game 4 Monday on Sportsnet and SN NOW.
