Officials’ decision to wave off icing leaves Golden Knights puzzled

Icing can be the most difficult rule to understand for novice NHL fans. And sometimes, even experts are left perplexed by it.

Take Saturday, for example.

Winnipeg Jets center Mark Scheifele scored the tying goal with 6:43 remaining in the third period moments after officials waved off icing, a decision that had the Golden Knights puzzled following the 4-3 overtime loss.

“I don’t understand why that wasn’t an icing,” goaltender Malcolm Subban said.

“Earlier in the game they called it icing, so if you’re going to be consistent with that, yeah,” center Paul Stastny said.

On the play, Scheifele intercepted an errant pass from Knights right wing Reilly Smith and carried the puck out of the Jets’ zone. He crossed his own blue line, then fired a long dump-in toward the corner to the right of Subban.

Knights defenseman Nate Schmidt and speedy Jets winger Kyle Connor chased after the loose puck and both linesmen raised their arm to signal icing. Video showed Schmidt clearly won the race to the faceoff dots before he lost an edge near the side of the net and crashed into the boards.

But the whistle didn’t blow, and linesman Ryan Gibbons waved off the icing when Schmidt wiped out and Connor changed course to retrieve the puck behind the net.

Connor then backhanded a pass to Scheifele, who was left alone in the slot when the Knights scrambled to recover and sent a one-timer past Subban.

“You kind of read the game, they were calling ones that looked like they were going to stop before they got there and they called it icing the whole game,” Subban said. “Pretty much every one was an icing. That one it’s tough. I don’t understand why it wasn’t an icing.”

NHL Rule 81.1 states icing is “completed upon the determination as to which player (attacking or defending) would first touch the puck … by no later than the instant the first player reaches the end zone faceoff dots with the player’s skate being the determining factor.”

The rule goes on to clarify “if the race for the puck is too close to determine by the time the first player reaches the end zone face-off dots, icing shall be called.”

If the linesman determined that Schmidt was going to be first to the puck, icing should have been called when he reached the faceoff dots.

But the puck skidded to the opposite side of the net, and the best guess is the linesman believed Connor had the advantage to arrive first.

“They didn’t really have (an explanation),” Knights coach Gerard Gallant said. “They knew they made a mistake, bottom line, so we just moved on.”

Said Schmidt: “I don’t really want to comment on the officiating. I mean, I thought I was there, but again, I can’t see him. There are a lot of other variables there for me to be able to answer that. I thought I was there, but like I said, there’s more things than that.”

Winnipeg coach Paul Maurice understood the Knights’ grievance but was happy to catch a break.

“We’ve had that exact same play go for and against us because it’s the motion of the puck, too,” Maurice said. “They’re not going to like it. We love it. Oh, well.”

Sick stick

Mark Stone is said to have the “best stick” in the NHL, which is sort of an ambiguous term for a player’s eye-hand coordination and ability to intercept pucks.

Basically, it means this:

Stone deflected a pass by Winnipeg defenseman Josh Morrissey and battled it out of midair off the boards to himself.

He crossed the blue line and then threaded a cross-ice pass between three Jets players to Max Pacioretty, who broke an eight-game goal drought.

Stone led the league in takeaways four of the past five seasons and finished second in the voting for the Selke Trophy as the best defensive forward.

His campaign for the Selke got off to a slow start, but that play will help.

Cashing in

Winnipeg’s Mathieu Perreault scored at 2:19 of the first period to the delight of hockey bettors.

The prop bet for a goal in the opening 10 minutes is 9-0 in Knights’ home games, and they lead the NHL with a 13-2 record in the category overall.

More Golden Knights: Follow at reviewjournal.com/GoldenKnights and @HockeyinVegas on Twitter.

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.