He did glide but as you hinted at distance traveled is what's relevant to the penalty. This part of the rule is messy too though. This play is a good example of this too. Evans was running away with the puck for like 150 feet, how is the checker supposed to get to him without travelling a distance if he won't stay still. lol.
Skate in short bursts with hard stops all the way up the ice?
I guess there has to be some looseness to the rules but I feel like a lot of people, including dept of player safety, put to much emphasis on the emotions that get tugged on, The rules don't care about your feelings tho.