Officials that cost the Leafs Game 7 also cost the Flames their series against the Oilers with brutal call
The Toronto Maple Leafs have nothing to be ashamed of this season, despite being eliminated in round 1 once again. Part of that is the fact that the team did not quit and played hard throughout the series against the Lightning, at times even making Andrei Vasilevskiy look very human. The other part of this was how brutally lopsided the officiating was in the series, heavily favouring Tampa Bay. It was so bad that even pundits, executives and even former players were acknowledging it.
The Calgary Flames missed a golden opportunity to make the Western Conference Finals by failing to contain the biggest threats in Edmonton, allowing Connor McDavid (14 points in 5GP) and Leon Draisaitl (17 points in 5GP) to produce at an insane rate, but also allowing secondary scoring to run amuck, with both Zach Hyman (8 points in 5 GP) and Evander Kane (6 points in 5GP) also exposing Flames goaltender Jacob Markstrom.
Funny enough, while these two teams had very different results in their respective series', there was one common denominator in their elimination games. Both series' were lost due in large to brutal officiating from the same officials, Wes McCauley and Eric Furlatt.
While McCauley and Furlatt cost the Leafs with their lack of a willingness to make even the most rudimentary of calls against the Lightning for blatant and egregious infractions that had been called all series long against the Leafs and disallowing a goal that should have counted it was also a disallowed goal that cost the Flames their series as well.
I mean, you tell me.. where is the distinct kicking motion? It is worth mentioning that players are well within their rights to redirect a puck in with their skate. That does not go against the rules. This was a go-ahead goal late in the game for the Flames, who should have forced a Game 6, but unfortunately for them and much to the dismay and displeasure of Coleman and head coach Darryl Sutter, McCauley and Furlatt got this one very, very wrong - and it was a costly controversial call, as Connor McDavid would score the game-winner for Edmonton in OT to eliminate the Flames, who like should have won this one in regulation.
We saw the officials who blew their assignments in Game 4 between the Leafs and Lightning cut from the list of playoff officials for round 2. We should see the same for McCauley and Furlatt for round 3, based on their performances in round 2, but we all know that isn't going to happen, especially because the NHL loves McCauley and Furlatt.
| POLL | ||
MAI 27 | 590 ANSWERS Officials that cost the Leafs Game 7 also cost the Flames their series against the Oilers with brutal call Should McCauley and Furlatt be cut from the list of officials for round 3? | ||
| Definitely | 491 | 83.2 % |
| No | 99 | 16.8 % |
| List of polls | ||
