Niklas Hjalmarsson goal waved off forcing Blackhawks to win Game 7 twice

The Chicago Blackhawks were forced to win Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Detroit Red Wings twice after an official’s controversial call wiped away a goal scored by Niklas Hjalmarsson late in the game.

Hjalmarsson scored on a slap shot he blasted past Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard with 1:47 left in the game. The goal put the Blackhawks up 2-1, but it was disallowed because referee Stephen Walkom had already blown his whistle prior to Hjalmarsson’s blast. Walkom saw Kyle Quincey and Brandon Saad getting into it by the bench and called coincidental penalties on them.

According to World of Isaac on Twitter, here’s where the puck was when Walkom blew his whistle:

So Walkom decided to blow his whistle and stop the action in a tie game for that? The only good news is that Brent Seabrook bailed him out by scoring the winning goal in overtime, otherwise Blackhawks fans would have been out for his head.