Islanders News: Palmieri calls it like he sees it

This stupid league.

The NHL playoffs are going to be an ugly, anticlimactic mess if that’s what passes for goalie interference. We are going to have another Brett Hull 1999 toe-in-the-crease OT moment in a high-stakes, made-for-TV game that goes phhhhhht because this league, in the year of our Bossy 2025, cannot get goalie interference right.

Monday night’s 4-3 shootout loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets could’ve been a standard, garden-variety frustrating missed opportunity by the Isles. They blew a 2-0 lead. They gave up a shorthanded goal to a spirited captain who just returned from missing most of the season. After their own captain regained the lead with a won’t-be-denied dogged shift, they gave it up again getting hemmed in their own zone for faceoff after icing after faceoff.

Instead, they had this riveting moment where the Isles appeared to score the winner with 9 seconds left, only to have it emphatically — with a puzzling degree of enthusiasm and certainty on such a borderline (at best) call — waived off, and upheld by Toronto after lengthy review. When the opposition goalie (who initiated the brief contact) does not look the least big aggrieved after giving up the backbreaking game-winner with 9.6 ticks left on the clock, you maybe don’t have interference.

But in the NHL, you do. Sometimes. Randomly. My Bossy, we’re going to have some goalie embellishments this postseason.

I’m not bitter because of this potential effect on the Islanders’ playoff chances — again, the Islanders shot themselves in other ways after a strong first period Monday, and I’m pretty meh about their playoff push. I’m bitter because I’m really looking forward to some great hockey matchups in the playoffs this year, but I know my enjoyment is going to be watered down by the constant fear that: 1) a pivotal moment will be reversed because someone’s airborne toenail was offside 15 seconds prior, or 2) someone sneezed near the crease, which will be judged a crime on even days and every third Thursday unless challenged by the wrong coach on the fifth Monday of Lent.

I’d honestly feel the same if the teams were reversed last night. My sense of foreboding has built all season as I’ve observed the shifting, inconsistent winds and projected out how it’s going to be when the playoffs arrive. But last night set my dread in stone. There’s gonna be a guy who’s butt hovers over the edge of the crease, the goalie initiates contact to push him away, and after he resets, a deflection goes in. How the league calls that scenario with a playoff outcome on the line will either be stupid, or inconsistent…or both.

Islanders News

Palmieri called it what it was.

• The Islanders have been fairly reserved about all the stupid-ass, inconsistent goalie interference and non-interference rulings they’ve experienced this season. Monday night, they let loose on the “fucking embarassing,” “afraid” Toronto situation. [Post | Newsday]
• The main story of the Islanders’ season remains the same: special teams failing them. Whoa, that power play. [Post]
• Oddly, the NHL’s web story on the shootout did not include Islanders’ reactions to the goalie interference ruling. [NHL]
• J-G Pageau has stepped up after Brock Nelson’s departure. [Newsday]
• With Kyle MacLean ill, Adam Boqvist got a second emergency run at forward. “It’s not easy.” It wasn’t only on him, but he was a factor when they were hemmed in for multiple icings leading to the tying goal. [Post]
• Before Monday’s game, Dan and Mike talked about the points streak and where the hell these guys came from. [Islanders Anxiety]
• Wade Flaherty recalls giving up Wayne Gretzky’s final goal. Kyle MacLean’s dad was involved, too. [NHL]

Elsewhere

Only four scores Monday but the relevant ones were unkind, with Columbus and Detroit each picking up two points.

• Scott Laughton’s transition to the Leafs has not been smooth. [NHL]
• Glenn Healy is proud of the progress the players alumni association has made in helping players, but a low-key great thing in this story is him calling Western Michigan “day care.” Put that on a recruitment billboard. [NHL]