DeBoer: Refs 'fooled' by Avs' embellishment on crucial OT penalty

Vegas Golden Knights head coach Peter DeBoer seems to be more upset at his opponent than the officiating for a controversial penalty call in the Colorado Avalanche's Game 2 win on Wednesday.

Golden Knights forward Reilly Smith was handed a slashing minor after he knocked Mikko Rantanen's stick out of his hands in overtime.

I didn't initially clip the slashing call. Good thing I went back and did, because ... oh boy.#VegasBorn pic.twitter.com/NI3MkLVFmm

- Danny Webster (@DannyWebster21) June 3, 2021

Rantanen proceeded to score the game-winner on the ensuing power play.

"Ah, just a soft call, but I can't even blame the refs," DeBoer said postgame, according to NHL.com's Rick Sadowski. "They're fighting through the embellishment of grabbing your face or falling down or dropping your stick every period. So, you know, I can't even blame the referee on it. They fooled them on it."

Rantanen saw the play differently.

"It's all over the league that if you slash the other guy's stick out of his hands or break his stick, it's always a penalty," he said. "I'm a pretty strong guy, too, so I can hold on to my stick, but that was a pretty hard slash. I don't think I would purposely drop my stick in the (defensive zone)."

Colorado has scored four power-play goals so far in the series.

Game 3 goes Friday at 10 p.m. ET in Vegas.

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