The Morning After: Two Big Reasons the Islanders Deserved to Lose

The New York Islanders were screwed last night. Kyle Palmieri scored what should’ve been the game-winning goal with 9.6 seconds left in the third period. The win would’ve sent the Islanders into a tie with the Canadiens for the final wild-card spot while creating a four-point gulf between the Islanders and the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Instead, the call on the ice was no goal, and because it was that, the league and its officials refused to overturn the call. Columbus then won in a shootout, moving just one point behind the Islanders while New York sits one back of Montreal.

The Islanders’ playoff odds dropped below 25% after the loss, according to Moneypuck.com. As for the Jackets, the win saved Columbus’ season from being too far gone.

After the game, the players let the league have it. They felt they were screwed, and they were right. Palmieri did not commit goalie interference. He tried to glide past and then set up firmly out of the crease and deflected the winner. Instead, while he skated by, Columbus goaltender Elvis Merzlikins not only initiated contact but then threw a punch with his glove instead of setting up.

That minimal contact, initiated by Elvis, was enough for referee Michael Markovic to waive off the goal and steal a win from the Islanders.

Despite that, the Islanders still have nobody to blame but themselves for the situation they found themselves in. There are two clear reasons why they lost last night, and neither has anything to do with officiating.

#1. Two More Blown Leads at Home

For the third straight home game, the Islanders blew leads on home ice. Last night in particular showcased just how good and bad this team can be.

In the first period, the game was as lopsided as could be. The Islanders outshot Columbus 17-6 and outscored them 2-0. They dictated terms and battered the Jackets at 5v5. All four lines, including Adam Boqvist as a right winger, won their minutes.

Then, the second period started and the Islanders turned an early power play into momentum for Columbus, and the game changed. The energy level dipped, and the Jackets surged to tie the game at 2. Luckily for the Islanders, their captain Anders Lee threw them a lifeline.

He scored a go-ahead goal with 47 seconds left in the second period to put the Islanders back in front 3-2 heading into the third period. The Islanders needed to close out the Jackets in regulation to not only gain a big moral boost but to show they could shut a game down at a pivotal time.

Instead, the Islanders went into a shell. Coach Patrick Roy said this of the third period last night: “The third period, I mean, we stopped playing in their zone. We stopped playing simple. We didn’t keep things simple, quick on the wall, bringing the puck [in the zone]. So we lost a lot of battles. I didn’t think we competed hard enough to get those pucks. And I thought that was the difference in the game.”

Columbus outshot the Islanders 17-4 in the third period. In truth, the Islanders were lucky that only Kirill Marchenko’s blast scored. There’s a real world where Columbus easily scores three goals in that final frame to turn it into a laugher.

So yes, the Islanders may have been screwed. That doesn’t excuse one of the worst periods of the season in one of the most critical games of the season.

#2: The Power Play

What I glossed over in the previous section is the bonafide turning point of the entire game. After a dominant first 20 minutes, the Islanders received a power play just 93 seconds into the second period. They led 2-0 at that point and had a total stranglehold over the game.

Hours after their coach told the media that a “2-0 lead is nothing” and that the power play needed to be better, the man advantage puked all over itself. Mathieu Olivier recorded multiple shorthanded shots on this power play, which wrestled away momentum from the Islanders.

New York would not be able to recapture total control of the game again. Just 1:58 after the power play, Adam Fantilli’s snipe made it a 2-1 game. The goal came as a direct result of the momentum Columbus gained from killing off another pathetic power play from the league’s worst power play.

After a mostly even second period started to wind down, the Islanders received a second power play opportunity with 3:02 left in the second period. Justin Danforth flipped the puck over the glass, a self-inflicted wound giving the Islanders a chance to reclaim a two-goal edge.

Fifteen seconds later, Boone Jenner tied the game 2-2. It took 15 seconds for the power play to give up a shorthanded goal, something the Islanders simply could not afford at that point in the game. The power play, something specifically designed to penalize one team and give another team a boost, works in reverse with the 2024-25 Islanders.

Fourteen seconds after the man advantage, Lee scored with a redirect in front. Columbus challenged for goalie interference and lost.

That meant with 47 seconds left in the second, the Islanders had another chance to completely rebuild their two-goal lead with a power play goal. Instead, split into the end of the second and the start of the third, the power play yielded nothing.

The Islanders went 0/3 on the power play while yielding a shorthanded goal. It’s not good enough and it’s a massive reason why they lost last night. Don’t just take it from me. Roy pointed right at his power play postgame: “We didn’t do a good job breaking in or setting up in 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 pucks. And we didn’t do a good job to see our options.”

In a lot of words, Roy said what we all saw. The power play did nothing right last night.

Screwed or not, the Islanders put themselves in a spot where officiating could determine the outcome.