Referee’s ‘mistake’ that led to crucial goal sinks Islanders

The Islanders were unhappy with the goaltender interference call that went against them Sunday, but could at least add afterward that it didn’t end up mattering in the 1-0 win over the Blue Jackets.

As for the missed icing call Tuesday night that led to the Blackhawks’ fourth goal in an eventual 4-3 win, well, there was no such solace.

After Wyatt Kaiser sent the puck up the ice, with Tyler Bertuzzi diving and missing in an attempt to get a stick on it before it crossed over the blue line, the Islanders were so sure that it would be whistled down that Adam Pelech and Scott Mayfield both temporarily seemed to slow up.

Instead, there was no call and Nick Lardis stripped the puck from Mayfield behind the net, setting up a streaking Frank Nazar, who made it 4-1 Chicago at 6:02 of the second.

“The referee said he made a mistake to us,” coach Patrick Roy said. “It was over. That’s all it was. That’s all. It was bad timing for us. It’s unfortunate, but that’s part of the game, I guess.”

Part of the game, maybe, and the Islanders bear some blame for not playing to the whistle, but this was a brutal time for such a missed call with the Islanders fighting for their playoff lives every night. The explanation on the ice, apparently, was that the puck hit Cal Ritchie.

“I don’t even know what that was about,” Ritchie said. “They said I touched the puck or something on that play. I wasn’t even near the play. Yeah, it’s a little frustrating.”

Indeed, the video confirms Ritchie’s description to be correct.

For the rest of the night, the UBS Arena crowd mock-cheered on every icing call.

At the time of the goal, it did at least appear that the missed call would be inconsequential, with the Islanders down 4-1 and looking sluggish at best.

After they recovered their game in the third period to get within 4-3 at the final buzzer, though, it looms large. Even a point from getting as far as overtime could make a big difference in a race that appears ready to go down to the wire.

“We had an icing,” captain Anders Lee said. “We had an icing. They said that it hit Cal Ritchie. So I don’t have the time, really, to go back and look. We had a game to play, so I’ll let you guys take care of that, but Cal said it didn’t hit him.”