Imagine a more Flames experience.

A hard fought game. On sheer will, the Flames score a go-ahead goal to put the Flames up 5-4 late in the third period.

Then the goal review team with the NHL gets their say— despite the call on the ice being a goal.

Déjà vu.

We’re all here for the ride once again.

It would be nice to have a series free of unnecessary goal review or Steve Kozari having any input in the result in the game.

That isn’t to say that the Flames would win the series, but it would at least remove any doubt that the Flames were short-changed by the league in any way.

Which they were. They obviously were. Any reasonable person watching this game could see that Blake Coleman was stopping on his front foot to avoid going straight into the net. The puck was going into the net on it’s own volition already.

A goal on the ice and no challenge from Woodcroft.

What is worse is that these kind of incidents during review process reliably go against the Flames every game of every season and no one says anything. The league entirely expects fans to eventually forget being brutally short-changed and rally for the next season. Putting their money and faith in things being different every single year.

Now the NHL, due to their own incompetence, leaves an entire fanbase bitter at the quality of evaluation of their own rules. For an entire offseason. A bush league referee could make a better call on any given night.

It’s no surprise, but it’s always a disappointment. No room to let the Oilers win on their own merit. Just an obvious call sent to Toronto and, as always, turned against the favour of the Calgary Flames.

This is the experience. If you haven’t been through it before; welcome to the show.

The real shame here is that this could have turned into a wild, marketable series.


More on the game tomorrow. After that, we have a post mortem on the playoffs, season report cards, trade scenarios and so much more. Stay tuned for some solid analysis. This is going to be a wild offseason

It’s just a shame the NHL as a league ended this series on their terms instead of allowing the hockey to tell it’s own story.


Trevor Neufeld


@Trevor_Neufeld

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