Many fans thought that the play was intentional. On the replay, one can see McDavid looking right at Soucy as he smacks him in the vizor with his stick. The referees did call McDavid for a minor penalty, but some thought it should have been more.
After all, this may very well have been McDavid's attempt at getting some revenge in on Soucy. The Canucks defenseman cross-checked McDavid earlier in the series, earning himself a one-game suspension. Some fans thought McDavid's high stick was more egregious.
Furthermore, McDavid has gotten away with some other pretty blatant penalties in the series. Perhaps the worst incident of this came when he high-sticked Quinn Hughes, who was forced to leave the ice for the ensuing faceoff because his face was bleeding. The refs must have felt that Hughes' face just started bleeding on its own.
All of that being said, the rule for a high-stick is a minor penalty, unless the player was injured. The referees could theoretically call McDavid for intent to injure on this play, but if that were really the case, he probably would have made more of an effort to actually hit his face, and not just his helmet.
