The NHL called Islanders forward Mathew Barzal for a slash when Kings defenseman Drew Doughty laid on the puck to kill time off New York's power play.
LOS ANGELES -- Riding a six-game winning streak, the New York Islanders had a glorious opportunity to take a 1-0 lead against the Los Angeles Kings midway through the first period on Monday night.
After Kings forward Adrian Kempe ran over Islanders netminder Ilya Sorokin to give the Islanders their first power play, Brock Nelson took a high-stick from Kings forward Trevor Moore, leading to a 5-on-3 advantage for 51 seconds.
The two-man advantage ended in 12 seconds.
That wasn't because the Islanders potted a goal but because Mathew Barzal was called for slashing Kings defenseman Drew Doughty, who laid on the puck to kill time off the penalty kill -- which, in reality, should have earned him a delay of game penalty:
You are always taught to play to the whistle and Doughty decided to lay on the puck. Was Barzal supposed to just stop playing?
It was a monumental call in the game, as the Islanders — a confident bunch who hadn't trailed at all on this six-game road trip — could have found themselves up 1-0 early against a strong opponent.
Now, the Islanders only have themselves to blame for ultimately losing 3-0, going 0-for-5 on the power play, despite Los Angeles owning the best penalty kill in the league.
Negating power plays has been a consistent issue this season for New York, doing so for the 19th time last night, and Barzal's been a consistent culprit.
With the importance of power plays against elite teams and the need for points at this juncture of the season, that slash was a tough one for the Islanders, whether you believe the refs botched the call or not.
Roy didn't love what Barzal did, but also made it known what he thought about the call.
"I think Barzal knows that he should not have dug for that puck," Roy said postgame. "I mean, it's a bad angle for me. As a coach, we're not in a good spot."
Roy did hint that maybe it was a make-up call for the Kings.
"We had two or three power plays. I guess it was just the moment that they were looking for this one."
In the end, it wasn't the Islanders' night. But it could have been had the power play come through, at least once, before the Kings took a 1-0, then 2-0 lead.
A two-point result for Long Island would have allowed the Islanders to leapfrog the Philadelphia Flyers for third place in the Metropolitan Division, but instead, the regulation loss has them out of the second wild-card spot.