The play occurred with approximately 1 minute remaining in the second period with defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin in the box. During a clearing a attempt by Ilya Mikheyev, Caps defender John Carlson stepped up to keep the puck in. The puck originally strikes Carlson in the arm, which would have been fine, except that the blueliner swatted the puck to a teammate with his glove on its way down.
The call comes in the same period in which the Leafs also had a power play goal called back due to an offside play by rookie Nick Abruzzese just before Jason Spezza's goal with the man advantage earlier in the second frame.