The Washington Capitals and Chicago Blackhawks played an entertaining, mostly even game on national TV Sunday afternoon. The Caps dominated the first period, Blackhawks dominated the second period, and the two teams played an even third period. It was unfortunate that one team had to lose. It was even more unfortunate that a team had to lose on what appeared to be a missed icing call.
Here’s the play.
Yeah, that’s icing.
Since it took two years for me to understand as a kid, I’ll explain the rule. Icing is called when a player shoots the puck across both the center red line and the opposing team’s goal line, and the puck is not touched. So basically, if a dude hits the puck all the way down the ice from beyond the other side of center ice, play is blown dead. In the NHL, they now have hybrid icing so if a player from an opposing team reaches the face-off dot first, the call is made without the need to touch the puck.
Here’s how the play developed. In the Blackhawks defensive zone, Dennis Rasmussen takes a loose puck and clears it down the ice into the Caps offensive zone. Rasmussen and the puck are the big red X.
Nate Schmidt and Richard Pánik race for the puck. Schmidt beats Pánik to the face-off dot, which is represented by that big red x again. The linesman then yells “Nooooooooo” for some reason and play continues.
The Caps, kind of confused, stop playing. Pánik kicks the puck to Rasmussen who originally iced the puck and the Blackhawks score.
The kick-pass! #WSHvsCHIhttps://t.co/3ZtCOpQrr6
— NHL (@NHL) February 28, 2016
Barry Trotz was livid.
So were Caps fans on Twitter.
lmao pic.twitter.com/EtDupoemjD
— kelsey (@hi_kels) February 28, 2016
So were Alex Ovechkin and Braden Holtby postgame.
Ovechkin said the refs made some "bad calls." Holtby said "everyone" was expecting icing on Chicago's third goal.
— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) February 28, 2016
And Barry? Still mad.
Trotz said it was a "tough night for the linesmen."
— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) February 28, 2016
The only plausible explanations are that 1) Taylor Chorney deflected the puck after Rasmussen chipped it over his stick (no) 2) the linesman believes Schmidt (who started gliding) could have played the puck before it crossed the goal line (no) or 3) the refs missed the call (yes).
Oh well.
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