Obviously not. Maybe?
The perception has always been that we are the most amazing people on Earth. Tom Brady roughed the passer call. Michael Jordan could draw a foul if he looked at the lane. The strike zone of Greg Maddux was the size of a rhino. It seems no official could resist the charms of that particular game, and would get caught up in it like the rest of us.
Hockey has resisted this forever, and in fact made their playoffs even harder for the game's biggest stars to shine as the refs always had their whistles in. That has changed this time around, and not only for McDavid, but also for MacKinnon, Stamkos, Kucherov, and others who have gotten to take over playoff games if not entire series. It makes for a much more watchable playoffs.
This call will keep Flames fans up at night, assuming one can sleep in a city that constantly smells of horseshit.
If a ref watches something in slow motion long enough and sees enough replays, you can label it whatever you want. This didn't look like a kick at game speed. If you want to, you can see Coleman lift his skate off the ice while he is being shoved into the crease. The point of the rule is to keep skaters from exposing and flinging their skates near a goalie when he is trying to freeze the puck. Mike Smith wasn't near this. It is too miserly.
The Flames put themselves here. Markstrom let in nine goals over expected for the whole series according to Stat Natural Trick. The Flames weren't terrible in the five games, but they didn't get any saves that could have changed the series.
If Johnny Gaudreau leaves the Flames for Philadelphia in free agency, there will be cold stares at the top line. The top line had six points in the four games since the kindergarten recess football game.
You have to find a way when your top line doesn't score. You can't find that way when your goalie is waving everything through. It might not have made sense to throw Chris Tanev out there in the last two games.
The media loves to glamorize players when they clearly shouldn't be, even if they can't really do anything. You wonder why the league and sport has a problem with speaking up about anything because players are terrified of giving into their injuries.
In the end, the headlines will be about McDavid, who netted the OT winner, his 12th point in five games. If that is the case, it will be the first time that a player has not appeared in the Final of the Conn Smythe. The system that the Flames use is based on their defense remaining high up the ice even if they lose the puck. The Flames forwards are so fast they can make up for any D-man that gets beat.
No one is as fast as McDavid, who either beat those D-men high up the ice clean or pushed them back to have all the space he needed in the neutral zone. The blue line was so scarred by Tanev's injury that they still provided the space for the Oilers.
Smith was less bad than his counterpart. Leon Draisaitl can help stop McDavid because he can. It only makes him one of the truly historic if it happens to cast the officials under a spell.
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