Ducks Coach Seethes Over Controversial No-Call That Favored Golden Knights in Playoff Loss

The Vegas Golden Knights took home the series-opening win in their second-round playoff matchup against the Anaheim Ducks on Monday night, though the game wasn’t without a heavy dose of controversy.

Moments before the Golden Knights’ go-ahead goal in the third period of their 3-1 win over the Ducks, Anaheim coach Joel Quenneville was beside himself after the referees declined to blow the whistle on what he believed was a clear icing call.

On the play in question, Vegas’ Ivan Barbashev was well behind the center red line when he dumped the puck into the Ducks’ zone. Ducks defenseman Jackson LaCombe beat a Golden Knights player to the puck, but the linesman decided to wave off what looked like a by-the-book icing call.

Had the referees called it, the Ducks would have gotten a face-off in the Golden Knights’ zone and a huge opportunity to build on their momentum (they had just tied the game roughly a minute earlier). Instead, Barbashev tapped in the go-ahead goal seconds later with five minutes left in the game.

After the loss, Quenneville didn’t mince words about the controversial no-call.

“Clearly, I disagreed with the call,” Quenneville said. “It was clearly icing. But their guy stopped skating, which really made me annoyed.”

He went on to imply that the no-call and Vegas’ subsequent goal was the game-deciding play.

“We looked like we could have slowed down playing. I haven’t really looked at it afterward. I was just upset about the call at that time. But that was the play for me,” Quenneville said.

LaCombe echoed a similar sentiment to that of his coach, though he refused to use it as an excuse for the team’s loss: “At the time I thought it was an [icing], but you just got to keep playing hockey. Doesn’t mean I can make a soft play after that. That’s how it is.”

Here’s a look at that icing no-call—you can see Quenneville nearly barrel over one of his own players in the box as he disputed the decision from the referees:

Quenneville was FURIOUS that icing wasn't called on Vegas' 2nd goal 😳🤬 pic.twitter.com/383fIjH7fa
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) May 5, 2026

The Ducks have every right to be pissed.

Barbashev is clearly short of the red line and LaCombe looks to be in a favorable position of Eichel.

Certainly a controversial call pic.twitter.com/3Aukl8qfIv
— Jonny Lazarus (@JLazzy23) May 5, 2026

Why icing wasn’t called before Golden Knights’ go-ahead goal vs. Ducks in Game 1 of playoff series

Why wasn’t icing called on the play? Under the NHL’s hybrid icing rules, the linesman has discretion over when to blow the whistle for icing based on how the play unfolds. If the defending player looks like he will reach the puck first by the time both players reach the face-off dots, play is stopped; if the attacking player has a chance to reach the puck first, the linesman may keep the whistle in his pocket.

Basically, it comes down to body positioning and who the linesman thinks will touch the puck first. In replay videos, it looked like LaCombe had the favorable position, but he may have hesitated and slowed his skating for just a second, leading to the no-call.

ESPN rules analyst Dave Jackson explained why the linesman may have waved off the icing call during the broadcast: “What people don’t realize, 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 will get to the puck first. If you see that angle, the Vegas player seems to have a step on the Anaheim player. His judgement right there is that the Anaheim player stopped skating, puts his arm out, and the Vegas player would win the race to the puck. That’s why he waved it off.”

The Golden Knights are set to host the Ducks for Game 2 of the series on Wednesday night. Hopefully the men in stripes don’t become an unwanted storyline in that one, and Anaheim gets its fair chance to even the series.

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