All yr lengthy, the Islanders have been vexed by the best way goaltender interference known as.
On Monday evening, they had been livid.
On Monday evening, they noticed a regulation win flip right into a shootout loss on one of the questionable calls of the season, as Kyle Palmieri’s game-winner with 8.9 seconds left in regulation was waved off — giving solution to a 4-3 Blue Jackets victory within the abilities competitors and a raging mad Islanders dressing room.
“I feel it was f–king embarrassing,” Palmieri mentioned. “Couldn’t disagree extra with the decision.”
“I don’t suppose anybody on this room agrees with this choice,” Alexander Romanov informed The Put up.
Coach Patrick Roy went so far as to name the NHL’s scenario room in Toronto “afraid” to overturn calls made on the ice.
“Palmieri was out of the crease and he tipped it in. I feel their goalie [Elvis Merzlikins] pushed him away on the similar time,” Roy mentioned. “In order that’s how I see it. If Toronto’s afraid to overturn calls made by the referee, we don’t want Toronto.”
There’s loads of explanation why the Islanders misplaced this sport, from their putrid energy play handing again momentum to Columbus after a dominant first interval to a passive third interval to Roy’s odd choice to steer 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 evening, that’s not a distant chance — they’ll have good motive to be upset.
The referees waved off Palmieri’s purpose immediately, which is odd to start with with regards to a good goalie interference name, and it stood after a prolonged evaluate, regardless of the video proof being mushy at finest.
Palmieri mentioned referee Michael Markovic informed him there was contact initiated within the crease by means of clarification.
“I suppose the goalie wants 5 minutes to get reset and prepared for the shot,” Palmieri mentioned. “It seemed 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 incorrect 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 energy. Shortly thereafter, Adam Fantilli reduce the lead in half with a purpose off the push.
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 energy, however the injury had been carried out and the door had been opened.
“We didn’t do job getting into the zone, we didn’t do job to launch the stress once we had the puck and we didn’t do job competing for it. And we didn’t do job to see our choices,” 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 possibilities in extra time earlier than Fantilli scored the lone purpose within the shootout to seal the win for Columbus.
Quietly, that’s now thrice in a row the Islanders have let a sport they’ve been main into the third get to extra time — a worrying memory of their unhealthy habits at first of the season.
“We stopped taking part in of their zone,” Roy mentioned. “We stopped preserving issues easy, fast on the wall, bringing the puck [up ice]. So we misplaced a whole lot of battles.”
Regardless of all that, Roy mentioned he felt the Islanders deserved to win.
The speedy injury within the standings isn’t colossal — they’re now tied with the Rangers on factors and one behind Montreal, although the Canadiens have a sport 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. “If you happen to’re outdoors the crease, I at all times thought that was the place to be. That’s all.
“Are you telling me the [Juraj] Slafkovsky purpose [where the Islanders lost a challenge on Thursday] was not worse than what we noticed tonight?”
To that, nobody had a solution.
