Music: {allcanada} NHL: Replays of Flames shot inconclusive

Thursday, March 31, 2011

{allcanada} NHL: Replays of Flames shot inconclusive

It wasn't the most painful disallowed goal in Calgary Flames history, but the one in the second period of their 4-2 loss to the Anaheim Ducks still hurt.

Television viewers and most of the 19,289 Saddledome fans on Wednesday night thought Tim Jackman had tied the score at 2-2 with five minutes left in the middle period of a game that was critical to the Flames' playoff hopes.

Replays appear to show the puck well over the line, sitting on top of Anaheim goaltender Ray Emery's blocker. But it was ruled no goal on the ice and a lengthy review at the NHL control centre in Toronto didn't see enough to overturn the call, even on the slightly fuzzy overhead view seen repeatedly on TV.

"None of the video review angles could conclusively tell that the puck was over the goal line," an NHL spokesman said Thursday.

A puck had gone off Matt Stajan's arm into the crease, players piled in and Jackman looked to have poked it in amid the wild scramble.

"I'm telling you it was in, that's all I can say," Stajan said later.

The replay also showed Anaheim's Ryan Getzlaf sneak a hand into the net and take what looked to be the puck away, although he said later it wasn't him.

Shortly after, Lubomir Visnovsky scored to give the Ducks a 3-1 lead.

The loss dealt a severe blow to Calgary's playoff hopes. It left the Flames in a tie with Dallas in ninth place in the Western conference with 87 points, three points behind Chicago, who held the eighth and final playoff position.

But Calgary, now with four games left in the regular season, has played two more games than Chicago and three more than Dallas.

And the Flames put themselves in trouble by going into a 3-5-2 skid in their last 10 games.

Many Flames fans still burn over what may have been a goal late in Game 6 of the 2004 Stanley Cup final, when Martin Gelinas' shot looked to have just got over the line before Tampa Bay goalie Nikolai Khabibulin swept it out with his right pad. That one also wasn't counted.

If it has, the Flames would almost certainly have won their second Stanley Cup, but the Lightning prevailed and then won the Cup at home in Game 7.