Leafs Coach Craig Berube Reacts to Controversial Overturned Goal and Character Win in Washington
A controversial no goal call was almost the whole story in the Maple Leafs/Capitals game and Craig Berube wasn't a fan of the call, as he revealed in his post-game interview.
Last night, the Leafs pulled off a character win in Washington, erasing a 3-1 deficit to take a 4-3 OT decision in what was Oliver Ekman-Larsson's 1000th career NHL game.
The win was an exciting one for the Leafs, largely because it was not without controversy, as the Leafs had 2 disallowed goals in this one, with the Capitals having a disallowed goal of their own.
Each of the no-goal calls were varying levels of controversial, but the goal scored by Steven Lorentz was certainly the most baffling decision, as it was overturned for a clear kicking motion, even though the puck never made contact with Lorentz's foot. The puck actually bounced off of the upper portion of his shin guard.
After the game, Leafs head coach Craig Berube was bewildered by the decision to call the goal back, highlighting the words in the rulebook regarding a distinct kicking motion for all to see, while also applauding his team's effort and keeping their eyes on the prize regardless of the adversity that they had to overcome.
In the NHL rulebook, under rule 49, the rule is described as "The action of a player deliberately using his skate(s) with a kicking motion to propel the puck or to contact an opponent."
With the skate never contacting the puck at any point, the goal should have counted. Still, with the Leafs picking up the win, I don't think anyone in Toronto will be losing any sleep over this one.
