Joe Bowen fumbles play call on series clinching OT goal for the Leafs
At the time of this piece, it's been nearly 12 hours since the puck crossed the goal line on John Tavares' series winning overtime goal. To be honest, it still hasn't sunk in. The entire city of Toronto erupted into celebrations, the TTC experienced massive delays due to fans in the streets, and Durham Region was forced to delay a planned power outage because of the game. This wasn't just big, it was huge - the biggest moment we've had as Leaf fans since Patrick Lalime turned into a pumpkin all those years ago. If only we'd known then that it would be 19 years until we got to celebrate again.
Through all of those years, Joe Bowen has remained as the voice of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Not even being relegated to calling games over the radio has dampened his spirits. Even worse, the decision was made to have he and his broadcast partner, Jim Ralph, call the away games from Toronto with only the TV feed to work with. Unfortunately, this lead to Joe's biggest goal call of the last 20 years being botched.
As John Tavares circled the Lightning net, Morgan Rielly activated from the point, sliding into a net front battle with Lightning defender Darren Raddysh. As Rielly and Raddysh jostled for position, Tavares threw the puck into their feet. It deflected off Raddysh's skate and found it's way over the goal line. Unfortunately, the camera crew focused in on Morgan Rielly after the goal. On first watch, it was hard to tell who had scored. Bowen, going off the TV feed, called it as Morgan Rielly's goal.
While not nearly as bad as Jim Hughson's "The defender lost his stick" or calling Kasperi Kapanen's name on Auston Matthews' overtime winner against the Blue Jackets in 2020, it's still unfortunate. I don't blame Joe. Watching the same feed as he was, I thought it had hit Rielly too. It wasn't until I saw the net cam that I realized it was Tavares' goal. If there is any justice in this world, Bowen will have the opportunity to redeem himself with another series winning call before these playoffs are over.
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 30 | 924 ANSWERS Joe Bowen fumbles play call on series clinching OT goal for the Leafs Who did you think scored the goal? | ||
| Tavares | 599 | 64.8 % |
| Rielly | 125 | 13.5 % |
| No idea, I was just happy it went in | 200 | 21.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
