Karma's a $*!@#
The Tampa Bay Lightning complaining about a missed too-many-men call during Colorado’s OT winner is RICH
On Wednesday, the Colorado Avalanche—the best team in the NHL this season by some margin and one of the most prolific offensive forces the sport has ever seen—took a 3-1 Stanley Cup Finals lead over the Tampa Bay Lightning with this Nazem Kadri overtime winner. Cue the scenes.
It was a bit bizarre, as Avalanche players celebrated despite officials delaying the call, unsure whether the puck wedged between crossbar and net or was simply resting on top. But it wasn’t the delay that irked Lightning coach Jon Cooper after the game as he fielded one question, spoke for two minutes, and stepped away from the podium, pledging a clearer head in the morning. It was an apparent missed too-many-men call on Colorado in the moments before Kadri’s clincher.
Cooper and the Lightning certainly have a case, but you have to consider not just the message but the messenger and sweet Jagr's mullet are the Lightning the wrong courier for this one. As you may remember, Tampa Bay scored the only goal of Game 7 of the 2021 Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Islanders with seven men on the ice … and they were supposed to be shorthanded.
What goes around comes around. Karma is a four-letter word for a female dog. So on and so forth. Do the refs have a duty to get the call right regardless of the context? Absolutely. Did the Lightning get screwed? Maybe so, but last year they were the drill.