Philadelphia Flyers forward Garnet Hathaway was ejected from Thursday’s game, picking up a major penalty for boarding New Jersey Devils defenseman Luke Hughes.

The two players were pursuing a puck on an eventual icing call. The linesman’s whistle came late, prompting Hathaway to finish his check while the play was still live.

Hughes crashed hard into the boards; he left the ice under his own power but later returned to the game.

Referees Jon McIsaac and Francis Charron reviewed the hit, confirming their original call on the ice: major penalty for boarding, along with a game misconduct.

 

 

“It was a race to the puck,” Hughes said later. “I thought I got the icing and I heard a whistle and he hit me. I probably got to protect myself there but [I’ll] learn from it. Thank God I didn’t get hurt.”

Hughes is right about the whistle.  It was late. 

Under the NHL’s icing rules, it is a race to the puck.  When the league updated to hybrid icing in 2013, the rule was changed slightly. Instead of the players racing to tag the puck and blowing the whistle on the touch, linesmen would now make the judgment call on the icing at the time the players were at the faceoff dots. 

Here’s Rule 81.1:

For the purpose of interpretation of the rule, there are two judgments required for “icing the puck”. The Linesperson must first determine that the puck will cross the goal line. Once the Linesperson determines that the puck will cross the goal line, icing is completed upon the determination as to which player (attacking or defending) would first touch the puck.

This decision by the Linesperson will be made by no later than the instant the first player reaches the end zone face-off dots with the player’s skate being the determining factor.

…

For clarification, the determining factor is which player would first touch the puck, not which player would first reach the end zone faceoff dots.

If the race for the puck is too close to determine by the time the first player reaches the end zone face-off dots, icing shall be called.

The puck was already beyond the goal line when the players reached the dots.  Here is when the whistle should’ve sounded, according to the letter of the law. 

 

Hughes appears to hit the brakes, pulling up in anticipation of the icing call.  Hathaway played to the whistle, resulting in a heavy hit on Hughes that sent him crashing dangerously into the boards. 

“I’m glad he’s not injured,” Hathaway said. “I try to make a clean body check, play the man, and separate the man from the puck. That was my job.”

It’s why Tortorella and the Flyers were furious with Hathaway being booted from the game. They believe 

No supplemental discipline is expected from the NHL’s Department of Player Safety.

 

The New Jersey Devils went on to win on the game 4-3 in overtime on a goal by – you guessed it – Luke Hughes. Referees were Jon McIsaac (#2) and Francis Charron (#6) with linesmen Brandon Grillo (#75) and Ryan Daisy (#81).