If you expected to see and hear some weird stuff during the Bruins' first game at Arizona's 5,000-seat Mullett Arena, well, you got it.
There were odd and sometimes grainy camera angles. There was way-too-loud music. There was audio from the Coyotes broadcast bleeding into the NESN broadcast. There were clearly more Bruins fans than Coyotes fans at the game. There were several missed penalty calls.
Also, the Bruins lost 4-3 despite outshooting Arizona 46-16. Fittingly, the game ended with the most bizarre moment of all.
Lawson Crouse scored the game-winning goal with 14 seconds to go, but only after a Coyotes icing was inexplicably waved off by the linesman.
The linesman appeared to be right on top of the play, had his hand up for icing the whole time, but then waved it off at the last second as the puck slid over the goal line and hit the side of the Bruins' net.
Derek Forbort, who was clearly caught off guard by the sudden change of heart, misplayed the puck, and Mattias Maccelli swooped in to grab it before setting up Crouse in the slot.
The question is: Why on earth was the icing waved off? A lot of people's first thought was that it was because the puck went through part of the crease.
However, while that was once a rule more than 20 years ago, the current NHL rulebook says nothing about the crease having any effect on an icing.
Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said after the game that he believed it should have been icing, and that he does not believe the puck going through the crease should have mattered.
Nick Foligno agreed.
"I was shocked, honestly," Foligno said. "I actually couldn’t believe it. I was almost like dumbfounded. Not to knock those guys, but it’s just a surprising call when 100 times out of 100, that’s an icing."
The only actual reasons for an icing to be waved off in that situation, based on the rulebook, would have been if a Bruins skater had a chance to play the puck before it crossed the goal line and didn't, or if Swayman made a move to play the puck.
Neither happened here. Forbort was the closest Bruins skater to the puck, and he seemed to make a pretty honest effort skating back towards the puck. He clearly wasn't going to get there before it crossed the goal line.
Swayman, meanwhile, clearly did not make any sort of motion to play the puck. He did exactly what goalies are taught: Get right up against the post, and if the puck hits you, cover it. If it doesn't, it's icing... or should be.
Anyways, this was just a weird one all around. The league-leading Bruins dominated the lowly Coyotes in their temporary college rink, but still lost, and missed out on at least one point thanks to a bizarre call. After some postgame venting about the officiating, this is one they'll probably just want to forget quickly and reset before they head to Vegas for a rematch against Bruce Cassidy's Golden Knights on Sunday night.
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