The Islanders want to talk about the referees. Fine. Let's talk about the number they'd rather you skip past: they got outshot 50 to 23 on their own ice and still want you to believe the stripes robbed them.
New Jersey won 5-4 in overtime at UBS Arena, Jack Hughes burying it 1:18 into the extra period after his brother Luke stripped Matthew Schaefer and sent him in alone. That's the sequence everyone's fuming about. Schaefer went down, Luke Hughes' arm was around him, no whistle came, and the puck went the other way for the winner. Schaefer himself said it was close: "It could've gone both ways, but I thought I did [get tripped]. But they could've seen otherwise." Simon Holmstrom was less diplomatic, calling it "an obvious penalty."
A call that could go either way could go either way. A whistle there wouldn't have been wrong, and the absence of one is a judgment the officials are paid to make in real time, with a defenseman's leg buckling and an arm wrapped around him. If the refs had called it, Islanders fans would have a point and Devils fans would be screaming phantom. Fifty-fifty calls land where they land, and they rarely decide hockey games. Outshooting somebody 50 to 23 does.
RatingThe Islanders surrendered 50 shots at home, something their franchise hadn't done since March 2018, and handed New Jersey four power plays while getting none of their own. They built a two-goal lead in the third period and let it evaporate against a team that was camped in their end for most of the night. The only reason this was ever a one-goal game is Ilya Sorokin, who made 45 saves, a season high, and was the best player on the ice by a distance. His own coach said as much. Asked about the officiating, Pete DeBoer waved it off and praised his goalie instead. DeBoer had the perfect excuse teed up and wouldn't touch it. His fans might ask themselves why.
Then there's the Logan Stanley slash on Nico Hischier, the other grievance getting folded into the conspiracy. The officials called it: a two-minute slashing minor, with matching roughing penalties in the scrum that followed, the one where Schaefer and Luke Hughes dropped the gloves. The complaint is about degree, some wanted five minutes instead of two, and that's a much weaker hill than the one being defended.
The honest version of the Islanders' night is simple: a goalie stood on his head, and his teammates rewarded him by getting run out of the building shot for shot. A two-goal lead turned into a loss because the better team kept coming and the Islanders stopped answering. New Jersey has now won four in a row and 10 of their last 12 heading out of this one, while the Islanders have dropped three straight. Those trends didn't show up in overtime on a no-call.
Sorokin deserved better: a defense that didn't leave him facing 50 shots, and a fanbase that doesn't need a referee to blame to spare everyone in front of him. The Devils were the better team for sixty minutes and change. They earned it.
