CALGARY, Alberta -- Sometimes the past and the present are closer than we think.
Certainly for Calgary Flames assistant coach Martin Gelinas, as the two fairly collided late in the third period of Game 3 of his team's second-round series against the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday.
Gelinas was standing on the bench staring hopefully at the Anaheim net when Sam Bennett appeared to have tied the hockey game 3-3 with 6:24 remaining in regulation.
Even though on-ice officials ruled that netminder Frederik Andersen kicked the puck free, coach Bob Hartley immediately began waving at officials, alerting them that he believed the puck had gone in the net.
The NHL reviews all goals as a matter of course, and although the review showed from several different angles that the puck appeared to be fully across the line, the hockey operations department ruled that there was not enough substantive evidence to overrule the on-ice call and the goal was waved off.
The play happened to take place at the very same end of the ice where 11 years ago Gelinas appeared to have won the Flames a Stanley Cup.
Late in Game 6 of the 2004 Stanley Cup finals against the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Flames were leading the series 3-2 and playing at home when a puck deflected off of Gelinas’ skate toward the Tampa Bay net. Netminder Nikolai Khabibulin kicked his pad at the same time, and officials did not signal a goal.
Replays seemed to prove with relative certainty that the Gelinas shot did, in fact, cross the line, which would have given the Flames a one-goal lead late in a possible deciding game. Instead, the Flames lost in double overtime and two nights later lost Game 7 in Tampa by a 2-1 count.
“In 2004, we didn’t have the ABC feed. We didn’t have it in 2004, so they were not quick enough. They dropped the puck and it was done,” Gelinas recalled in a conversation with a small group of reporters Wednesday.
The play was so controversial that even after the season, Gelinas met with senior NHL executive Colin Campbell to discuss how the play had unfolded and the no-goal was allowed to stand.
The similarities between the Bennett play and Gelinas’ no-goal were eerie, even down to the timing of the game -- both happening with fewer than seven minutes left in regulation.
"Again, it happened so quick that we had to look at the replay to see it," Gelinas said. "It was exactly the same angle, the same save, except that was a shot instead of hitting a skate."
The big difference between the two controversial calls is that rookie Johnny Gaudreau tied Tuesday’s game against the Ducks with 19.5 seconds left in regulation to force overtime, and Mikael Backlund notched his first career NHL playoff goal 4:24 into overtime to give the Flames their first victory of the series.
It’s difficult to compare a potential Cup-clinching goal to a second-round game, but for the Flames, Tuesday was a do-or-die situation, as they were desperate to avoid going down 3-0 to the Ducks.
“All year we found a way to battle back. We’re resilient. All in all, we’re happy, but you go back to that goal, and you just want it right,” Gelinas said.
Gelinas scored three series-clinching goals in that magical playoff run for the Flames in 2004, two in overtime, earning him the nickname "the Eliminator." He has been an assistant coach in Calgary since 2012.
There is a fan who sits next to the Calgary bench who wears a Flames jersey with ‘It Was In’ and the number 04 on the back, so Gelinas is often reminded of that moment.
The fan was wearing it again on Tuesday night, and Joe Colborne, who grew up in Calgary and was a Flames fan, made sure Gelinas saw it as the drama was unfolding.
“It’s funny,” Gelinas said. “I’m getting poked by [Joe Colborne] on the bench. Colby was here back then. He was saying, 'Look at this!'"
