Islanders handed controversy-filled loss to Stars as Casey Cizikas gets match penalty
This was the return to normal, and with it came the return to normal old controversies, normal old frustrations and normal old losses.
Well, maybe not so normal a loss, since such a thing — you may have forgotten — is a rarity for these Islanders.
This 4-3 defeat to the Stars on Sunday night at UBS Arena came with, and in no small part because of, one of those regular old Game 56 messes, this one after Casey Cizikas was hit with a match penalty for a hit to the head on Lian Bichsel at 13:26 of the second period. In addition to a whole lot of anger on the Islanders bench and an ejection (and potential suspension) for Cizikas, the subsequent Stars power play also triggered goals two and three of a Jason Robertson hat trick and a two-goal Islanders deficit that became decisive.
For good measure, there was a goalie interference controversy after Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s apparent tying goal was waved off with 4:52 left due to Pierre Engvall pushing Matt Dumba into Jake Oettinger.
That one, the Islanders were not so interested in litigating after the fact, with coach Patrick Roy conceding the call on Engvall was correct.
The penalty on Cizikas, not so much.
“I thought it hit the chest before the head,” Roy said. “So it’s unfortunate to see someone be hurt, we don’t want to see that happening. But at the same time, I thought that was chest first. That’s my opinion.”
“We saw the replay on the bench there. We didn’t think it was high at all,” Anthony Duclair said. “We thought it was a clean hit.”
Kyle Palmieri struck back a mere seven seconds after Robertson opened his account to make it 2-1 to Dallas 8:48 into the second — taking Tony DeAngelo’s feed all the way and scoring off-balance — before the game was upended when Cizikas’ shoulder connected with Bichsel’s head a little over four minutes later.
A subsequent three-minute power play for the Stars — reduced from five after Dumba was hit with an instigating call for fighting Cizikas — produced a whole slew of events the Islanders would rather forget.
After possessing the puck for the entirety of the two-minute four-on-four without shooting, the Islanders allowed a goal almost as soon as they lost possession on the penalty kill, with Robertson scoring from Roope Hintz on a quick passing sequence.
Robertson did so again before the major penalty expired, stuffing in Wyatt Johnston’s rebound to make it 4-2 Dallas.
“We get the five-minute [major] and they get two [goals],” DeAngelo said. “Special teams games happen all the time and you gotta start coming out the other end of them.”
The Islanders did at least go down fighting, with Anthony Duclair breaking a seven-game scoreless streak to pull them within 4-3 at 9:17 of the third.
Pageau looked to have tied it with a shot from the slot with just under five minutes left in regulation, but the roar from the UBS crowd turned to jeers at the referees in short order when the goal was immediately waved off for interference.
That — and Brock Nelson’s chance that was saved by a diving Oettinger at six-on-five — proved the last, best pair of looks in an onslaught of a third period.
Close, no cigar, and a five-point gap to the playoff cutline smacking the Islanders in the face after a two-week break from the playoff race.
The best news the Islanders got Sunday came in the morning, when it was confirmed that Ryan Pulock and Scott Mayfield would return to the lineup.
That bumped Adam Boqvist to being a healthy scratch, but finally took the defense out of crisis mode.
If a slow first period on Sunday was the price the Islanders had to pay to get two free weeks of recovery for a back end that was in triage when the break started — and their first period was rusty — it was probably worthwhile.
That, at least, was not what the Islanders were lamenting at the end of the night.
“Thought we played a really good 50 minutes to be honest,” DeAngelo said. “It’s a shame. A game I thought we could at least get a point out of. That’s frustrating but gotta bounce back next game.”
