Coyotes claim Knights’ winning goal shouldn’t have counted

GLENDALE, Ariz. — As Jonathan Marchessault chased after a loose puck in the final minute Sunday, it never occurred to the winger that the Golden Knights might be called for icing.

But nearly everyone wearing an Arizona Coyotes jersey thought a whistle was coming.

Marchessault set up center William Karlsson with 42.7 seconds remaining for the lone goal in the Knights’ 1-0 victory at Gila River Arena, though the Coyotes felt it shouldn’t have counted.

“There’s nothing for me to analyze. It’s icing,” Arizona coach Rick Tocchet said. “The linesman made a mistake. It’s icing, but … you’ve still got to hustle back. That’s just the rule of thumb. You can’t leave it for chance, especially with 40 seconds left.”

The play started when Alex Tuch gathered a long pass in the neutral zone and circled back toward the red line before dumping the puck into the right-wing corner.

Marchessault gave chase, and Arizona defenseman Jakob Chychrun clearly won the race to the faceoff dots. But he skated to the far side of the net in anticipation of the puck rimming around the boards.

Instead, the puck hit the back of the net and stopped, allowing Marchessault the opportunity to spot Karlsson alone in the slot.

“It didn’t even cross my mind that it was going to be icing, so I just kept going,” Marchessault said. “I just kept going until I heard a whistle and there was none.”

According to NHL Rule 81.1 icing is “completed upon the determination as to which player (attacking or defending) would first touch the puck … by no later than the instant the first player reaches the end zone faceoff dots with the player’s skate being the determining factor.”

What’s not clear from television replays is where the puck was on Tuch’s stick and whether it was in the Knights’ half of the ice before he sent it into the zone. If so, then the Coyotes might have a case.

“It’s a human error,” Tocchet said. “(The linesman) made the mistake. I understand, but we’ve got to play to the whistle. I understand people think it was icing, but you’ve got to understand the antennas have to be up with 40 seconds. You cannot leave human error for chance.”

Clamping down

The Knights allowed a season-low four shots on goal in the first period and held the Coyotes without a shot for seven minutes. Arizona finished with 42 shot attempts, its fewest in six games.

It was the kind of defensive effort that coach Pete DeBoer hopes to build from moving into a two-game series against St. Louis.

“That’s our best 60-minute effort of the year,” he said. “For me, that’s how this team has got to play. … We kept the pressure on them. We’re slowly inching towards our game.”

Praise for Theodore

Tocchet speaks in his own language and isn’t always the most polished public orator. Take for example his praise for Knights defenseman Shea Theodore.

Without actually saying it, the Coyotes coach called Theodore one of the top defensemen in the league.

“Theodore is climbing the ladder,” Tocchet said. “You can put him in the — I don’t know, one, two, three, four, five, there’s all those defense- men there — any given night, he’s up there. He’s a hell of a defenseman, obviously.”

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.