Fans expected high performance from the final of the West, because several hockey players who have been leading the league in points for the past few years are fighting for victory in the conference at once: Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl from Edmonton, as well as Nathan McKinnon from Colorado.

And the finalists did not disappoint, giving the audience a goal festival – teams for two scored as many as 14 goals.

However, due to a strange episode, fans are not discussing the effective battle between the teams, but the terrible refereeing.

A chance to make things right

In the final of the West, the fans of the Oilers are rooting not only for their favorite team, but also personally for McDavid. The biggest star of the league even in Edmonton has a large number of haters. It would seem that there can be no claims to the talented scorer, who knocked out 123 (44 + 79) points only in this regular season.

Surprisingly, just the high performance is the reason why the captain of the Oilers is not liked. They say about McDavid that he only cares about his own statistics, and not about the success of the team. The Canadian has collected almost all the individual awards, but he has no achievements at the club level yet.

Edmonton fans are undoubtedly pleased that one of the strongest players on the planet plays in their team, but they still want to celebrate the victory in the Stanley Cup, which has not been seen for almost 30 years. And in the last four seasons, the Oilers have either not participated in the playoffs at all, or have been eliminated in the first round.

Photo: © REUTERS / Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

This year, McDavid is seriously set to change the situation – the striker drags the team to the final on himself – he has 29 (8 + 21) points in 13 games for relegation. But in the series with Colorado, it looks like he will have to confront not only McKinnon, but also the judges.

Judicial arbitrariness

The fact that the series between the two finalists of the West will be fiery, it became clear already in the first period – Colorado and Edmonton upset each other twice. And at the end of the starting 20-minute period, it became hot not only on the ice, but also in the stands. Oilers fans couldn’t hide their anger at the terrible refereeing.

14 seconds before the end of the period, defender Cale Makar entered the zone at speed and put Evs ahead with a powerful throw. Edmonton hockey players were in no hurry to get upset, because Makar was in an offside position – Valery Nichushkin did not have time to leave the zone before the defender entered there.

Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft immediately took the coach’s request that the referees watch the episode on replay and cancel the goal. However, the puck was unexpectedly counted due to a strange interpretation – Makar threw the hockey projectile forward in the middle zone, and touched it again only in the opponent’s half. This means that there was no control and no offside position on the blue line.

As a result, Makar began to accept congratulations from teammates, and Edmonton, in addition to the missed goal, also received two minutes for delaying the game. Colorado did not miss the opportunity to convert the majority – Nazem Kadri at the beginning of the second 20-minute gave Evs a two-goal lead. The controversial refereeing did not break Edmonton, and the “oilmen” answered Kadri’s goal in two minutes.

McDavid’s team had to play open hockey to catch up with the opponent. Hockey players “Colorado” began to use this, trying to catch the opponent on the counterattack. This tactic was successful – the “avalanches” upset the goaltender of the Oilers, Mike Smith, twice more. Woodcroft even had to change the poor keeper, who missed six goals by this point.

Connor McDavid / Photo: © REUTERS / Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

A minute later, in Colorado, the goalkeeper was replaced, but not because of the goals of the opponent – Darcy Kemper was injured.

After the goalkeeper’s reshuffles, “avalanches” scored again, but the intrigue in such a productive match was still alive. And at the end of the second period, McDavid said his word.

The captain’s puck gave impetus to the whole team, and at the beginning of the final 20-minute period, Edmonton won back two more goals. At the end of the meeting, Woodcroft removed the goalkeeper, and the “oilmen” went to the last assault in the hope of saving the meeting. But it didn’t work out to equalize the score – Evs forward Gabriel Landeskog scored into an empty net and put an end to the match.

As a result, Colorado outplayed Edmonton in a bright match – 8:6, but due to a dubious episode, the holiday of productive hockey was overshadowed. For Oilers fans, the only good thing about this story is that it’s just the first game of the series, and can still be fixed.

And the restoration of justice will be done by McDavid, whom the judges greatly angered.