Calgary Flames defenseman Noah Hanifin was credited with a goal that came on a ‘continuous play’ against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Hanifin fired the puck towards the Leafs net from a sharp angle along the boards inside the right faceoff circle. Goaltender Matt Murray appeared to gather the puck into his pads, only to have it trickle across the goal line just as the whistle sounded.
Wait — you may ask — since the whistle blew, isn’t this no goal? What about ‘intent to blow’ the whistle, when the refs can deem the play stopped even if they hadn’t yet blown the whistle?
Those are both considerations, but so is rule 37.3, which allows for the video review of:
Puck entering the net as the culmination of a continuous play where the result of the play was unaffected by any whistle blown by the Referee upon his losing sight of the puck.
That’s right. Even if the referee blew the whistle – or even intended to blow the whistle – the goal may still be awarded if the Situation Room determines that it was a continuous play.
In this case, no other player impacted the play or the puck, outside of Martin’s attempted save. That continuous play allows the goal to stand.
The NHL’s official ruling confirmed that interpretation.
Video review determined that Noah Hanifin’s original shot completely crossed the Toronto goal line as the culmination of a continuous play where the result was unaffected by the whistle.
A tough break for the Leafs, but the right call on the ice — and in the Situation Room.
Flames head coach Darryl Sutter might have been okay with this one, but he wasn’t exactly happy with some of the other calls in the game.
The Toronto Maple Leafs went on to win the game 5-4 in overtime. Referees were T.J. Luxmore (#21) and Michael Markovic (#31), with linesmen Scott Cherrey (#50) and Caleb Apperson (#77).
