BURSTThe Calgary Flames fell to the Ottawa Senators in overtime Thursday night, but after the game, the team was upset with what they felt were two non-calls.
One of the incidents occurred in overtime, shortly before the Senators sealed the win.
After Rasmus Andersson sent a stretch pass to Nazem Kadri, Kadri fed a pass to Jonathan Huberdeau in the slot. Huberdeau tried to get a backhand shot off but was taken down by Senators captain Brady Tkachuk. Huberdeau hit the ice hard and slid into the end boards. The Senators then took advantage of the odd-man rush to go back the other way, where Tkachuk scored the game-winner on a rebound.
Afterwards, Huberdeau appeared furious with the officials and let them know his thoughts near centre ice. The veteran winger was then asked about his emotional eruption post-game.
“First of all, I gotta score and we’re not talking about it. But then it’s still a high stick. When they go back and score and it’s the same guy that high-sticked me, it just stinks,” he said. “They’ll look and notice the mistake. I mean, they can make mistakes but it just sucks that it’s the outcome of the game.”
Defenceman Mackenzie Weegar echoed Huberdeau’s comments post-game.
“To miss that, it’s tough. Especially in overtime, especially when it’s just been a great game,” Weegar said. “That’s all I really have to say on that, it’s a tough one to miss.”
The Flames were also upset with a non-call at the very end of the second period, when Senators forward Shane Pinto punched Flames forward Martin Pospisil in the head after a battle in the face-off dot.
“That was a pretty blatant sucker punch at the end of the second period, four guys on the ice miss it,” veteran forward Blake Coleman said. “And then you get a breakaway, your eyes are all on the guy with the puck in overtime, he takes a stick to the mouth, draws blood, same play that we got a four-minute for earlier in the game.
“It’s a tough job but we were definitely on the tough side of it tonight.”
Head coach Ryan Huska said the officials told him they didn’t see the Pinto punch.
“They have a tough job, those guys, they really do,” Huska said of the officials. “But I just feel like over the last little bit for whatever reason we don’t get a lot of calls coming our way. So I don’t know if I have to change my approach behind the bench. I’m not sure… You’ve got to earn your calls along the way but when there’s some that I think should be made, you’d like to see them be made.”
The Senators had three power plays in Thursday’s game while the Flames had two.
According to NHL.com, the Flames entered play with 118 penalties drawn and 127 penalties against. That negative-nine differential ranks 23rd in the league.
