Controversy in Calgary as the Flames have game-winning goal called back due to ''kicking motion''
With just over 5 minutes to go in a pivotal Game 5 of the Battle of Alberta, the Flames looked to have taken the lead after Mikael Backlund's shot squeaked past Mike Smith and was nudged into the net by Blake Coleman as he was attempting to stop. What was thought to have been a sure goal was quickly overturned by officials that deemed Coleman kicked the puck in.
Someone needs to read the rule book again because that is not a kicking motion at all. The puck directed off of Coleman's skate while he was tangled up with Cody Ceci and attempting to stop. The only reason his skate lifts off the ice is because, and common sense here, he was dragged to the ice by Ceci. Not only do officials and those in the "war room" have trouble with goaltender interference calls, but clearly can't tell what a kicking motion is either.
This will undoubtedly go down as one of the most controversial calls in playoff history. This is a complete opposite play from 2004 when the puck appeared to cross the line during Game 6 of the Cup Final between Tampa and Calgary but no official review was initiated. Here, the officials reviewed it without a coaches challenge and somehow deemed it a kicking motion without taking into account the other factors such as Coleman trying to stop while being dragged to the ice.
Unfortunately for the Flames, the game remained 4-4 through regulation time and went to OT, where Connor McDavid punched the Oilers' ticket to the Western Conference Finals. This one is going to be talked about for quite some time.
| POLL | ||
MAI 27 | 329 ANSWERS Controversy in Calgary as the Flames have game-winning goal called back due to ''kicking motion'' Should Blake Coleman's third period goal have counted? | ||
| Absolutely | 209 | 63.5 % |
| No | 53 | 16.1 % |
| I'm out of words for how bad the officials are | 67 | 20.4 % |
| List of polls | ||
