Jared Bednar blames 'tough' call for loss in Game 5.

The Colorado Avalanche had a chance to put away the defending Stanley Cup champions on Friday night but, as they have many times already in these Stanley Cup playoffs, the Tampa Bay Lightning proved to be too resilient. It was a hard fought battle on both sides but when the full 60 minutes had been played the Lightning would walk away with a 3 - 2 victory, much to the disappointment of the Avalanche and of their loyal fans that had packed Ball Arena for Game 5.

While there were a number of factors that contributed to that result, following the game the National Hockey League's officiating was once again at the forefront of the conversation. To be fair it was nowhere near the debacle that we saw in Game 4, but nonetheless following the game Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar made it perfectly clear that he thought the officials had made a game altering error.

The call Bednar took issue with was one that went against Avalanche star defenseman Cale Makar, one that would lead to a pivotal powerplay goal from the Lightning.

"I didn't love that call, just because I don't think there was any intent there," said Bednar as per ESPN. "I don't even think he was checking that guy. Looked to me like he kind of tripped over his stick. It's a tough one. They got their only power play goal on that one. So that hurt, stung a little bit. But it is what it is. You gotta roll with the punches."

Makar himself was visibly frustrated with the officiating during the course of the game, even making his displeasure known to the cameras at one point. After splitting the Lightning defense late in the game, Makar could be seen giving the officials an ear-full over what he appeared to believe should have been a hooking call against the Lightning.

To his credit though, Makar would not blame the officials following the game and instead insisted on looking ahead to game 6.

"I'm not here to talk about the refs," Makar said. "We have to battle through that. It's playoffs, there's going to be discrepancies game to game with different people. It is what it is. You can't get your emotions taken into that. For me, that [call] doesn't happen very often but at the end of the day you have to refocus."