Controversial goal at the end of the first period has some Leaf fans concerned about Ilya Samsonov's play
For the third time in this series, Leafs goaltender Ilya Samsonov has surrendered a goal in the final minute of a period. Samsonov has allowed a goal in the last minute of a period in 2 of his team's 3 games against the Bolts so far in the series, with the first two occurrences happening in the 1st and 2nd periods of Game 1.
This one, in particular, was a bit of a backbreaker as the Leafs seemed to have a lot of momentum in the 1st. They were just 32 seconds away from carrying a 2-1 lead into the 2nd period, which would have been very important in their first road game of the series. Here's a look at what can only be described as a very soft goal.
Originally, the official appeared to be prepared to blow the whistle, killing the play, but the puck did squeak through Samsonov and trickle over the line before the whistle had gone.
Why the controversy here? Well, because the Leafs have been on the receiving end of a beneficial call in the past where the official had intended to blow the play dead before the puck had crossed the line, but just couldn't blow the whistle quick enough. This was a similar type of play, only this time, the officials came together and discussed it with the war room to decide that this would be considered a good goal.
I have no problem with this one being called a good goal. It's really just the consistency factor that's frustrating here. It's tough to tell how calls are going to go down and with every set of officials calling things differently, you never really know which side of the call your team is going to be on.
As far as Samsonov is concerned, he'll really have to cut down on allowing these types of goals late in a period. They're absolute momentum-killers and that's not helpful for his team. Thankfully, Sammy has played well enough otherwise to make other saves that maybe should have resulted in a goal against. They don't ask how, they just ask how many - so if Samsonov keeps winning games, I'm sure nobody will mind how he gets it done.
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 22 | 148 ANSWERS Controversial goal at the end of the first period has some Leaf fans concerned about Ilya Samsonov's play Do you think this goal should have counted? | ||
| Yes, that's a good goal any day of the week | 38 | 25.7 % |
| No, the official was about to blow the play dead | 84 | 56.8 % |
| Don't care, just win | 26 | 17.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
