All yr lengthy, the Islanders have been vexed by the way in which goaltender interference known as.
On Monday night time, they have been livid.
On Monday night time, they noticed a regulation win flip right into a shootout loss on one of the crucial questionable calls of the season, as Kyle Palmieri’s game-winner with 8.9 seconds left in regulation was waved off — giving method to a 4-3 Blue Jackets victory within the abilities competitors and a raging mad Islanders dressing room.
“I think it was f–king embarrassing,” Palmieri mentioned. “Couldn’t disagree more with the call.”
“I don’t think anyone in this room agrees with this decision,” Alexander Romanov advised The Publish.
Coach Patrick Roy went so far as to name the NHL’s state of affairs room in Toronto “afraid” to overturn calls made on the ice.
“Palmieri was out of the crease and he tipped it in. I think their goalie [Elvis Merzlikins] pushed him away at the same time,” Roy mentioned. “So that’s how I see it. If Toronto’s afraid to overturn calls made by the referee, we don’t need Toronto.”
There’s loads of explanation why the Islanders misplaced this recreation, from their putrid energy play handing again momentum to Columbus after a dominant first interval to a passive third interval to Roy’s odd determination to guide off the shootout with Anthony Duclair — who promptly fumbled the puck away.
But when the Islanders miss the playoffs by some extent — and with the Islanders, Rangers, Canadiens and Blue Jackets all separated by two factors after Monday night time, that’s not a distant chance — they’ll have good cause to be upset.
The referees waved off Palmieri’s purpose straight away, which is odd to start with in relation to a decent goalie interference name, and it stood after a prolonged overview, regardless of the video proof being mushy at greatest.
Palmieri mentioned referee Michael Markovic advised him there was contact initiated within the crease by the use of clarification.
“I guess the goalie needs five minutes to get reset and ready for the shot,” Palmieri mentioned. “It looked like [Markovic] couldn’t wait to wave it off.”
Earlier than the fiasco on the finish of regulation, the Islanders had already yakety-saxed a pair of leads, largely on account of an influence play that’s in dire straits.
They constructed an early 2-0 lead and gave the Blue Jackets no quarter at five-on-five, however issues began to go mistaken as quickly as Damon Severson was known as for tripping Bo Horvat early within the second.
Columbus simply killed off the penalty, and the Islanders’ disjointedness all of a sudden prolonged into even power. Shortly thereafter, Adam Fantilli lower the lead in half with a purpose off the frenzy.
The second energy play was even worse, with Boone Jenner tying the sport off a shorthanded rush at 17:13 of the second. Anders Lee put the Islanders again up 3-2 virtually instantly after the sport went again to even power, however the harm had been carried out and the door had been opened.
“We didn’t do a good job entering the zone, we didn’t do a good job to release the pressure when we had the puck and we didn’t do a good job competing for it. And we didn’t do a good job to see our options,” Roy mentioned of his five-on-four items. “That’s all.”
Even at five-on-five, the place the Islanders had completely dominated earlier, they spent the third interval passive and pushed onto their heels, inevitably resulting in Kirill Marchenko tying the sport at three.
After Palmieri’s purpose was known as off, each groups traded probabilities in additional time earlier than Fantilli scored the lone purpose within the shootout to seal the win for Columbus.
Quietly, that’s now 3 times in a row the Islanders have let a recreation they’ve been main into the third get to additional time — a worrying memory of their unhealthy habits firstly of the season.
“We stopped playing in their zone,” Roy mentioned. “We stopped keeping things simple, quick on the wall, bringing the puck [up ice]. So we lost a lot of battles.”
Regardless of all that, Roy mentioned he felt the Islanders deserved to win.
The speedy harm within the standings isn’t colossal — they’re now tied with the Rangers on factors and one behind Montreal, although the Canadiens have a recreation in hand. However the Islanders, who’ve clinched postseason berths in Video games 81 and 82 during the last two seasons, know simply how a lot each level issues greater than most.
“I don’t know what to say anymore,” Roy mentioned. “Should you’re outdoors the crease, I all the time thought that was the place to be. That’s all.
“Are you telling me the [Juraj] Slafkovsky goal [where the Islanders lost a challenge on Thursday] was not worse than what we saw tonight?”
To that, nobody had a solution.
