The Anaheim Ducks were enraged by a linesperson's decision to wave off icing on the Vegas Golden Knights' winning goal in Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinals series Monday night in Las Vegas.
With just more than five minutes left in the third period, and the score tied 1-1, Vegas forward Ivan Barbashev clearly sent the puck into the Ducks' zone before reaching the red line. Typically, the result of the play would have been an icing call, which would result in a faceoff in the Golden Knights' defensive zone. But as Vegas center Jack Eichel and Ducks defenseman Jackson LaCombe raced toward the puck, linesperson Bevan Mills waved off icing.
"I just tried to put the puck deep. I saw Jack on the far side going through. I thought for a second he beat him, and that's why they waved it off," Barbashev said.
Eichel prevented LaCombe from cleanly clearing the puck and Vegas winger Pavel Dorofeyev intercepted it. He skated in and fed Barbashev for a tap-in goal against a stunned Ducks defense, giving the Golden Knights a 2-1 lead with 4:58 left.
Coaches and players on the Anaheim bench jumped around and banged their sticks in protest. Coach Joel Quenneville was particularly animated in his frustration, holding on to the backs of his players to maintain his balance as he screamed at the on-ice officials.
"Clearly, I disagreed with the call. Clearly, it was icing. But their guy stopped skating, which really made me annoyed," Quenneville said.
The Ducks' coach said a decision like that could cause players to "kind of let up" on the play, although he hadn't gone back to watch video on the sequence yet. "I was just upset about the call. That was the play for me," he said.
Barbashev's goal came just 1:05 after Anaheim's Mikael Granlund tied the score. Mitch Marner added an empty net goal for a 3-1 victory and a 1-0 series lead for Vegas.
"We just scored. It was a huge call and it was an easy call," Quenneville said.
ESPN rules analyst Dave Jackson said that Barbashev clearly committed icing, but that Mills made a judgment call that Eichel would get to the puck before LaCombe could.
"What people don't realize, is that it's not a race to the dot. It's not the first player to get to the dot. The linesman has to make a decision at the dot as to who he thinks can get to the puck first," Jackson said on the ESPN telecast. "At that angle, the Vegas player seems to have a step on the Anaheim player. His judgment right there is that the Anaheim player stops skating, puts his arm out and the Vegas player would win the race to the puck. That's why he waves it off, in my opinion."
Game 2 of the series is scheduled for Wednesday night in Las Vegas.
"We're fortunate that we found a way to win. [Anaheim] played well, but we have some things to work on," Golden Knights coach John Tortorella said, adding that the Ducks were "the better team" in Game 1.
