Opinion: It’s Calgary’s Fault, Not The Officials

Here it is:

This is what has all Flames fans up in arms. Nate Thompson scored the Ducks 3rd goal of the night with an apparent high stick. The initial call on the ice was a goal and after review, the call stood and the Calgary lead was a very precarious 4-3. Not to rub salt in the wound, but you know what happened from here: Anaheim ties it, Anaheim wins it in OT, Anaheim takes a 3-0 series lead.

I was angry when this happened. I was pissed at the officials:

With that said, the officials didn’t take this game away from the Flames. The Flames did. Calgary did. 4-1. 4-2. 4-3. Those were the leads the Flames had in this game, yet they managed to lose 5-4 in OT. That’s just unacceptable. Yes, Anaheim got the call on the high stick/no high stick, but they also got the bounces. Calgary has played well enough to probably have a 2-1 series lead, yet they find themselves down 3-0. Penalties derailed their efforts in the first 2 games, but tonight it was bounces and just bad luck.

“But the refs suck!” Well, if that’s what you believe and the controversial goal is a decent example, Calgary had 5 PP opportunities in this game. The Ducks? 0. Not a one. The Flames made the Ducks pay by scoring 2 PPG early in Game 3 which propelled them out to a 2-0 lead and Sam Bennett would add another to put the Flames up 4-1. After that it all went to hell. The Ducks out shot the Flames 12-8 in the third and scored twice. Calgary seemed to take their foot off of the accelerator and Anaheim took advantage by simply putting pucks on net and got the bounces.

So yes, the goal that was scored by Thompson was controversial and seemed to be a high stick, but make no mistake, the Flames lost this game all on their own. In the playoffs when you have a 4-1 lead, that’s a game you HAVE to win. The fact that the Flames blew a lead like that with a chance to take the momentum and climb within one game is just unacceptable. If blaming the officials makes you feel better, so be it, but your favorite team turtled at the end and blew it. Which is a shame because for 6+ periods out of 9, they’ve been the better team on the ice.

What say you?

by Mark Parkinson