Maple Leafs Actually End Up on the Right Side of a Controversial Goal Call in Seattle

The Toronto Maple Leafs came out victorious for the third straight game as they took down the Seattle Kraken by a score of 3-1. After a deflating stretch of 3 games without a win, the Leafs are now 1 win away from a perfect western road-trip that concludes Saturday night in Vancouver.

The story of the game was Anthony Stolarz's performance in his first contest since the 12th of December after he injured his knee during a game against Anaheim.

The 31-year-old made 26 saves to earn his 10th win of the season. However, Matthew Knies' controversial goal in the 2nd period played a big role in the win as well.

With the Leafs up 2-0 in the middle frame, Knies deflected a point shot from Jake McCabe past Joey Daccord to give the club a commanding 3-goal lead past the midway point of the period.

The referees immediately conferred with one another and ruled it was a good goal before a quick review upheld their original decision. Nevertheless, the more you watch the replay, the more it seems like it was a ticky-tack call that could have gone either way.

Knies tried to play it cool and make it seem like he didn't get a piece of a Jake McCabe point shot, allowing McCabe to celebrate the goal and be first in line for fist bumps at the Leafs' bench in an effort to confuse officials.

Knies' blade was well above the cross-bar, but the puck made contract with the body of the stick as he was trying to deflect it downwards. Daccord immediately threw up his arms to signal to the officials that it was a high stick, but to no avail as the goal stood and Knies was awarded his 21st of the season.

As colour commentator Mike Johnson mentioned during the telecast, Knies stands in at around 6'3 or 6'4 and his stick was positioned above the cross-bar. Due to the referees ruling it a goal on the ice, they needed conclusive evidence to overturn the call. It was always going to be tough to find conclusive evidence of a high stick due to the downward motion of the stick and the absence of a good camera angle.

In the end, they were content with their decision and that Knies successfully batted it down under the cross-bar. While it wasn't technically the game-winning goal, it proved to be a very pivotal insurance marker as the Kraken cut the deficit to 2 goals early in the third period.

The win pushed the Leafs to 1 point back of first place in the division again, but they hold 2 games in hand on the Florida Panthers and will look to make in-roads on Saturday in their final game before the break for the 4-Nations Face-Off.