from Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet,

But whenever Vancouver fans think of Sunday’s game, it won’t be for Schaller scoring a deuce or Josh Leivo sniping the shootout winner. It will be for rookie Elias Pettersson being denied a second-period goal when Stars goaltender Anton Khudobin foiled Pettersson on a second-period penalty shot by throwing his stick straight into the Swede’s feet.

Despite clear wording in the NHL rulebook that a goal should have been awarded automatically on Khudobin’s stick toss, referees Justin St. Pierre and Tim Peel, positioned on each side of the net with unobstructed side views of the play, called nothing except a save.

When Canucks coach Travis Green, after watching replays, disbelievingly asked St. Pierre before the ensuing faceoff why it wasn’t a goal, the referee shrugged and made a motion with his hand apparently demonstrating that Khudobin poke-checked Pettersson.

Before we proceed further, let’s make something clear: the Canucks are not going to the playoffs, haven’t won enough games to deserve to go, and are again in garbage time when blown calls – for and against them – hardly matter.

But blown calls should matter to the NHL, and this one was embarrassing. Not quite as embarrassing as former referee Denis Morel allowing Winnipeg Jet Nelson Emerson to catch a puck behind the Chicago net, carry it to the post and drop it with his hand over the goal-line for a game-winning goal during the 1993 season. But it wasn’t far off.

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Missed it, watch the play here.