LIGHTNING 4, LEAFS 4: Aquestionable call sets up Toronto's third-period goal to send it to overtime.
By DAMIAN CRISTODERO
Published February 11, 2004
[Times photos: Dan McDuffie]
The Lightning's Brad Richards slams into Toronto's Tie Domi, center, and goalie Trevor Kidd in the third period.
Brad Richards looks for a shot around Toronto's Bryan Marchment in the first period.
TAMPA - John Tortorella's fuse was exposed, but the Lightning coach refused to let it be lit.
"Don't ask me," he said Tuesday night after Tampa Bay's 4-4 tie with the Maple Leafs at the St. Pete Times Forum. "The question that you want to ask, don't even bother."
Really, though, there was little else to talk about.
A goal by Toronto's Gary Roberts with 44.4 seconds remaining in the third period tied the score. But it came after linesman Jonny Murphy appeared to blow an icing call that gave the Maple Leafs a faceoff in the Lightning zone.
"I've seen the tape, and I'm not 100 percent sure, but to me it was a little bit questionable," defenseman Cory Sarich said. "I'm not saying either way. I'm not the linesman. I wish I was tonight."
"Ninety percent of the time that is waved off," center Brad Richards said. "This time it wasn't and it killed us."
How bad was the call? It is believed NHL supervisor of officials Andy VanHellemond, in Las Vegas for the general manager meetings, apologized to Lightning GM Jay Feaster.
Neither Feaster nor VanHellemond could be reached for comment. Murray and senior referee Don Koharski, who worked the game with Chris Rooney, were not available to reporters.
It was a sour ending to an exciting game in which Tampa Bay took a 4-2 lead 2:51 into the third period on Vinny Lecavalier's second goal and Richards' goal 50 seconds later.
Martin St. Louis had a goal and two assists, Cory Stillman assisted on both third-period goals and the Lightning power play was 3-for-4 and has 12 goals in its past 28 opportunities.
But Owen Nolan scored a power-play goal at 5:09 to cut the lead to 4-3, and Roberts tied it after Tomas Kaberle knocked down at the Lightning blue line St. Louis' clearing attempt.
"I'm very disappointed in that last goal," St. Louis said. "I've got to get that puck out. I can't give a guy a chance to jump and catch it. We fought all game and it comes down to that play."
It came down, in a sense, to a play 12 seconds earlier when Lightning defenseman Pavel Kubina sent the puck from behind his own goal line off the right-wing boards and down the ice.
The puck appeared to go past two Leafs players, and replays showed defenseman Bryan McCabe played it before it hit the Toronto goal line.
And as Rule 65(e) states, "If in the opinion of the linesman, a player of the opposing team is able to play the puck before it crosses the goal line ... play will continue and the icing violation will not be called."
Both sides beefed with the officials. Toronto's Tie Domi took a stick in the throat in the third period, and Nolan punched Sarich in front of the Lightning net in the second. Neither were called.
Nolan scored after defenseman Jassen Cullimore was called for interference on what appeared to be a dive by Roberts.
"The refs are human and are going to make mistakes," Cullimore said. "It's just too bad their mistakes cost us a point out there."
"There were a lot of things missed out there on both sides," Maple Leafs coach Pat Quinn said. "I would debate that one call determined the outcome."
The outcome kept the Lightning six points behind Toronto for second in the East. It also snapped the Maple Leafs' four-game winning streak in Tampa, where they are 16-2-1-0.
As for some extenuating circumstances, Tortorella reiterated, "Don't ask me."
