Vancouver Canucks forward Liam Ohgren came up behind Jackson LaCombe in the Anaheim Ducks zone late in the first period at Rogers Arena on Tuesday, lifted the defenseman’s stick, took the puck off him and beat Laurent Brossoit five-hole.
The referee standing closest to it called hooking.
The goal came off the board, Ohgren went to the box, and Cutter Gauthier scored eight seconds into the Anaheim power play. A 1-1 game became 2-1 to the visitors inside about fifteen seconds, with Vancouver having just put the puck in the net.
Supporters watching it back were not gentle.
“This might be the worst penalty call in hockey history,” one wrote.
“Horrible call. Wish the ref would just call what they can see. This one was obviously an assumption call,” said another.
“Absolutely has to be reviewable, what a joke of a league,” a third added, while someone else fumed that referees across the league “have been calling stick checks hooking all year.”
Anaheim’s power play over their last three games:
| Chances | Goals | League rank |
|---|---|---|
| 12 | 10 | 1st, at 38 percent |
Can a disallowed goal be reviewed in the NHL?
The coach’s challenge covers offside, goaltender interference and missed stoppages in play. A penalty call isn’t on that list, and hooking is a judgment made by whichever official happens to be closest to the action. Once he puts his arm up, there is no mechanism anywhere in the rulebook for undoing it.
Ohgren was more diplomatic about it than anybody watching.
“I haven’t looked at it closely, but from what I’ve seen, I don’t agree with the call,” he said. “Feel like I got the stick pretty good, and I score right after, and it got called back. And I got a penalty and they scored on the power play. So, I mean, obviously a tough one. But gotta trust the referee that he sees the right thing and made the right call.”
He had already scored a legitimate one at 6:04, finishing a Marco Rossi pass to level the game.
Anaheim won 5-4, with Gauthier completing a hat trick to become the first player in Ducks history with hat tricks in back-to-back games, and the first in the NHL with multiple power-play goals in three straight. Jake DeBrusk scored twice for a Vancouver side now sitting 3-13-1.
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