Zebras weigh in on Jets-Dallas Game 3 talking points Ref shin pad swipe and game-winning goal hotly-contested incidents By: Mike McIntyre Posted: 5:46 PM CDT Tuesday, May. 13, 2025

DALLAS — An unpenalized whack to a referee’s shin pads by an angry player and a controversial game-winning goal have become major talking points in the hotly-contested playoff series between the Winnipeg Jets and the Dallas Stars.

Although the NHL has opted for the silent treatment surrounding the two incidents, which occurred during Sunday’s Game 3 between the two clubs, the same can’t be said for the hockey world at large as debate rages on.

The Free Press spoke on Tuesday with a pair of former league officials who agreed to give their takes on the condition of anonymity.

Let’s break them down in detail:

INCIDENT #1: Dallas forward Mason Marchment, upset at what he thought was an undetected slash by Jets centre Mark Scheifele, uses his stick to strike referee Graham Skilliter on the leg at the end of the second period.

THE CALL ON THE PLAY: Nothing. Not during the game itself or even after the fact, despite Rule 40.1 which states “Any player who deliberately applies physical force in any manner against an official, in any manner attempts to injure an official, physically demeans, or deliberately applies physical force to an official solely for the purpose of getting free of such an official during or immediately following an altercation shall receive a game misconduct penalty.”

UPON FURTHER REVIEW: “In my mind that is an automatic 10 games (suspension),” official No. 1 told us, noting former Anaheim Ducks forward Antoine Vermette received that suspension from the league for slashing a linesman in 2017 because he was upset at how the puck had been dropped during a faceoff.

He said the action itself, rather than the severity, calls for strict sanctions to remind all players that referees and linesman are off-limits no matter how upset you might be.

“I will say personally that it does send a terrible message to every person out there, especially kids, that acts like that are in any way acceptable in any sport,” he said. “It’s not acceptable and never should be. We have enough issues with abuse at the minor hockey level and this doesn’t help.”

Both officials we spoke to speculated that Skilliter might not have even realized what Marchment had done in the heat of the moment.

“I will say personally that it does send a terrible message to every person out there, especially kids, that acts like that are in any way acceptable in any sport.”

“When I initially saw it, I was like, ‘Oh, man, how did the ref not do something? ’ said official No. 2.

“And I watched it again, I don’t think he even knows he got hit, right? Usually when you have a play where you know the player is going to yell at you, you almost intentionally ignore the player. You look past them, do your best job not to antagonize them.”

However, it would have been clear as day after the fact, especially since Marchment came out at the start of the third period and was caught by cameras apologizing to Skilliter. Ultimately, the referee did not file an “abuse of official” report and the NHL decided no sanctions would be taken such as a fine and/or suspension.

“It can’t just be black-and-white You need some layers. Like, putting your hand on him versus punching him can’t be the same crime, right?” said official No. 2.

“If it had happened to me, I’d have killed the play right there and given him a 10-minute misconduct. And then the league could have stepped in. I’m a little bit surprised that nothing was done after the fact.”

Both officials speculated that Skilliter likely spoke to other referees, including the union, before ultimately deciding no further action was necessary.

Does that mean it’s now open season on the men in stripes?

“No, if anything, I think it’ll be heightened awareness,” said official No. 2. “That anything happening down the road is going to be dealt with swiftly and severely.”

INCIDENT #2: Dallas defenceman Alex Petrovic knocks a puck with his skate which goes off Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck’s stick and into the Winnipeg net to give the Stars a 3-2 lead in a game they’d go on to win 5-2.

THE CALL ON THE PLAY: A good goal, both as it happened and then following a nearly 10-minute video review. Ultimately, referees deemed that while Petrovic did use a kicking motion on the puck, Hellebuyck negated the illegal act by “propelling” it into his own net. If they had deemed he simply deflected it, it would not have counted based on NHL rules.

UPON FURTHER REVIEW: “If they are going to rule that a kick, then that is a textbook no-goal based on how the rule is written,” said official No. 2. “That’s not control by (Hellebuyck) by any means. He’s scrambling to try and block it when the puck goes in the net. That’s the reason the rule was put in there.”

No argument from official No. 1.

“Do I think it was propelled? No. I think he made a legitimate attempt to stop the puck and it deflected. I don’t know what the goaltender is supposed to do in that situation other than try to stop the puck,” he said.

“The grey area becomes where the goaltender goes to make a save and tries to direct it to the corner, but instead it goes in the net. That’s an intentional action that is misplayed. That I don’t believe is what happened here.”

The Jets felt they got robbed on this play, and both officials would seem to agree. Except official No. 2 thinks the NHL also messed up by finding Petrovic guilty of a kick.

“I don’t think that was a distinct kicking motion,” he said.

In essence, two wrongs here ultimately made a right in terms of the final verdict.

“I’m glad it was allowed, I thought it should be a goal, but not for the reasons they stated,” said No. 2. “Before we had video review, nobody would have said ‘Boo,’ nobody would have watched that 10 minutes later and gone ‘Oh, we got screwed because it wasn’t reviewed.’ It was like they stuck their fingers here where they didn’t need to be.”

So how did this all come to fruition? According to both officials, it would have been the NHL itself which halted play before the puck could be dropped to say they wanted a further look — not Skilliter or his referee partner, Chris Rooney. And that led to a painstaking back-and-forth.

“I can only guess here that the referees did not feel it was kicked. They had a good angle on it. But Toronto (the league office) said ‘Hold on,’” said No. 2.

“I think the reason it took so long was because there was probably some disconnect between Toronto and the referees. Toronto saying it was kicked, the referees looking at it and saying it wasn’t. And possibly coming up with some compromise as to how do we allow this goal and maintain integrity.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

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