NHL official confirms that referee blew call in Ducks-Oilers game

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

A 4-2 win over the Ducks on Sunday might have made a blown call that cost Edmonton a key penalty in the second period a lot easier for the Oilers to absorb.

With Edmonton leading, 2-0, veteran referee Stephen Walkom ruled that Oilers defenseman Theo Peckham cleared the puck over the glass in the Edmonton zone at the 16:25 mark of the second period, but replays showed that the puck went through a hole in the glass used by photographers.

Walkom consulted the photographer in the well about the play but would not reverse his call. The Ducks went on to score twice in the span of 22 seconds, the first goal coming on the power play created by Peckham’s penalty, to tie the score, 2-2.

NHL senior officiating manager Bob Hall, who attended Sunday night’s game in the Honda Center, acknowledged after the game that Walkom was in the wrong.

‘What happened in real time on the ice was the puck went out of play,’ Hall said. ‘The referee that was right in the corner didn’t see how it left the ice. He went and conferred with two of the other officials on the ice.

‘They put the pieces of the puzzle together, and they came out with it was a shot out, which we all now know in seeing it on the replay that it was not the correct call. But it is not a reviewable play. Our video review process doesn’t allow us to do stuff like that.’

--Mike DiGiovanna