Controversial no-goal call mars Game 1 of AHL's Calder Cup Finals

The Charlotte Checkers were left to pick up the pieces after a controversial no-goal call prefaced their Game 1 loss in the AHL's Calder Cup Finals against the Abbotsford Canucks on Friday night.

The incident occurred with the two clubs lined up for a faceoff in the early stages of double overtime. Canucks center Ty Mueller won the draw cleanly and accidentally fired the puck into his own net. Abbotsford goalie Arturs Silovs had his back to the play right before the puck was dropped and appeared to be adjusting his helmet.

The Checkers were on the ice celebrating what they thought was a Game 1 victory, but the officials interrupted their party by waving the goal off.

"Just that the goalie wasn't set, wasn't ready for the faceoff," Charlotte bench boss Geordie Kinnear said when asked about the explanation he received for the call. "So they deemed that the goalie wasn't ready."

He added, "I thought it was a goal, and then all of a sudden there was hesitation from the refs. Credit to them, they got together and they made the call. I just see it as the centerman's responsible for making sure everyone on his team is ready. He looked like he was ready to me."

Checkers defenseman Trevor Carrick also found himself feeling bamboozled.

"It was a weird play," he said, per WBTV News' Cam Gaskins. "I don't really know what was going on. ... I don't really know the ruling there. I thought we had the win there, but apparently not."

The rearguard continued, "It's tough. I mean, I was kind of looking at the refs right away, and they were huddled up. ... I tried not to get too fired up, but obviously the guys were pretty amped up. It was a long game. We were looking forward to finishing that off."

Danila Klimovich scored on the power play around seven minutes later to secure the 4-3 victory for Abbotsford. The Canucks were down 3-2 entering the third period, but Mueller buried the equalizer to extend the contest.

Kinnear thought the Checkers did a solid job of putting the waved-off goal behind them and was more concerned about his club's struggles on the power play.

"It is what it is. It's playoff hockey. There's gonna be mistakes both ways," he said. "You can't get too high, too low. You just move on. I thought we responded well. I thought we came out, had some chances, but in the end, you look at the scoresheet, it's 2-for-7 (for Abbotsford on the power play), 0-for-5 (for Charlotte)."

The Checkers failed to convert on two power-play chances in the first overtime period.

Abbotsford is the AHL affiliate of the Vancouver Canucks, while Charlotte is the minor-league team of the Florida Panthers.

Game 2 is scheduled for Sunday at 4 p.m. ET.