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Controversial High-Stick With :03 Left Cancels Out Tying Goal In Kings' Loss

OTTAWA (CBS) -- The Los Angeles Kings celebration quickly turned to disbelief.

Ryan Smyth scored what would have tied the game with three seconds remaining, but after a long review, officials in Toronto didn't have enough evidence to overturn Eric Furlatt's call of a high-stick and the Ottawa Senators escaped with a 3-2 victory on Monday night.

According to the NHL rulebook a high-stick is defined as the following:

High-sticking is the name of two infractions in the sport of ice hockey that may occur when a player intentionally or inadvertently plays with his or her stick above the height of the shoulders or above the cross bar of a hockey goal. The level at which a stick is considered too high for a goal is the crossbar of the net.

Replays may have shown Smyth's stick level to be legal, but the call on the ice was a high-stick.

Photo Gallery: Kings Fall To Ottawa

The NHL's VP of hockey operations, Mike Murphy, told Jim Fox of Fox Sports Net that replays officials had "no view that would allow them to change the call on the ice."

 Earlier in the game, the Kings thought they had a goal, but the net had been dislodged moments before Wayne Simmonds put the puck in goal.

 Los Angeles has now lost four of five.

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