With players from both teams converging on the crease, referee Graham Skilliter lost sight of the puck.

As Skilliter blew the whistle to stop play, Calgary Flames forward Michael Frolik fired the puck into the net.  The referee immediately waved off the goal.

Skilliter conferred with the other on-ice officials: referee Brad Meier and linesmen Devin Berg and Steve Miller. After a brief discussion, Skilliter addressed the crowd:

“After consulting with the officiating crew, we have a good goal.”

 

 

In this case, the officials were able to discuss the play and revise the call on the ice.  No video review was employed in making this call. If the referees had opted to call the Situation Room, there is a provision in the rule book that would – in certain circumstances – allow them to weigh in on a ‘blown-whistle’ play.

38.4 Situations Subject to Video Review – The following situations are subject to review by the Video Goal Judge:

(viii) The video review process shall be permitted to assist the Referees in determining the legitimacy of all potential goals (e.g. to ensure they are “good hockey goals”).

[…]

This would also include situations whereby the Referee stops play or is in the process of stopping the play because he has lost sight of the puck and it is subsequently determined by video review that the puck crosses (or has crossed) the goal line and enters the net as the culmination of a continuous play where the result was unaffected by the whistle (i.e., the timing of the whistle was irrelevant to the puck entering the net at the end of a continuous play).

That last sentence sums up what happened here. The referee lost sight of the puck and was in the process of stopping play when the Flames fired the loose puck into the net. It was, in the language of the rulebook, a ‘continuous play where the result was unaffected by the whistle.’

By the time the whistle sounded, the shot had already been released. Players hadn’t given up on the play — especially Michael Frolik, whose goal tied the game.

To their credit, the officials were able to discuss the play and arrive at the right call.