Seventeen seconds before Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl won Game 2 for the Edmonton Oilers in overtime, Viktor Arvidsson tripped Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb headfirst into the end boards. Play was stopped with McNabb injured, but no penalty was called.
When play resumed, McDavid worked his magic with a beautiful setup for Draisaitl, who scored to give Edmonton a 5-4 win. In the aftermath of the loss, Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy called out referee Gord Dwyer by name when asked about the non-call.
“Listen, Gord’s looking at it,” Cassidy said. “He blew it. He blew the call. I don’t know what else to say. It’s a can-opener trip. It’s a dangerous play. It’s all those things. It didn’t get called, so you gotta keep playing.”
After coming back from a 4-2 deficit to force overtime, losing immediately after that missed call is a tough pill to swallow for Vegas.
“It stings to lose that way,” Cassidy said.
On the play, Arvidsson got his stick in between McNabb’s legs as they were speeding toward the boards for a loose puck. Arvidsson also had his hand on McNabb’s back and seemed to extend his arm as McNabb was losing his balance.
Golden Knights captain Mark Stone called it a “dirty play.” Like Cassidy, Stone said it was a blatant non-call, and now the Golden Knights might be without one of their stalwart defensemen moving forward.
“Pretty clear it’s a penalty,” Stone said. “His stick is between McNabb’s legs. He sends him headfirst into the boards. Pretty clear cut penalty in my eyes, I think in everybody’s eyes, right? That’s hockey. You don’t always get the call. It’s unfortunate. Now we might be down another d-man. We’ll see tomorrow.”
On top of rallying to tie the game in the third period, the Golden Knights also killed off a five-minute major penalty in overtime after Nicolas Roy cross-checked Oilers forward Trent Frederic in the mouth.
Vegas seemed to get some momentum from that kill, but instead Edmonton took advantage of a missed call and will head home with a 2-0 series lead.
