The No Goal GOAL

Needless to say, it is apparent to everyone who considers themselves a fan of hockey, not necessarily the NY Islanders, that a HUGE travesty was levelled against said Islanders last night. Why does it seem Buffalo is getting all the breaks? Why is everything going against the Islanders? Why do they have so many phantom penalties, or just downright bizarre ridiculous calls, some coming in the last 2 minutes of the third? Why do they have so many goals disallowed in this series? Why did Buffalo get only a 2 minute penalty for seriously boarding Jason Blake? If an ISLANDER had boarded Drury or Briere, he'd been suspended by now.




I have seen comments by such a diametric opposite of an Islander fan, the dreaded Ranger fan, saying it was a goal. CLEARLY a goal. Replay after replay showed the puck slide over the line BEFORE the whistle. And it wasn't the first time. In an earlier game, the Islanders had a clear goal disallowed.




The fix is in with the NHL. They choose who they want to advance. They want Buffalo, let's hurry this little series along, so they can all get a good rest before the next series. After all, the lowly Islanders don't have a prayer. Besides they're not one of the scared cows in the NHL, are they? They're not the blessed Rangers, or Buffalo or Jersey or Anaheim or Detroit.


But here are the facts lest you think I am seeing all this from my orange and blue colored glasses.


* After the puck went in the net, Islanders center Mike Sillinger was told by the referees that the decision of “goal or no goal” would ultimately be made by NHL headquarters in Toronto.


* In a phone conversation after the game, Stephen Walkom, the NHL VP and Director of Officiating, told Islanders general manager Garth Snow that the call was made by the referees on the ice.


* Walkom told Snow the referees disallowed the goal because Islanders defenseman Brendan Witt crashed into Buffalo goaltender Ryan Miller, causing the puck to cross the goal line.


* There is at least one clear, definitive replay that shows the puck sitting on the goal line between Miller's legs and then Brendan Witt, uncontested, skating in and slamming the puck into the net. Not a player on either team touches Miller until well after the puck crosses the goal line. Witt never touches Miller at all.



With more than three minutes left in regulation the line of Satan, Alexei Yashin and Viktor Kozlov took the ice and put together a great shift that kept the puck in the Sabres' end. Finally, Kozlov sent the puck into Miller and it dropped down for Witt to put it in. "I whacked it through the five-hole," Witt said. "Miller was shoved in after it went ... You could easily say they don't want us in the series. I hope they're not doing it on purpose."


Brendan, Brendan, Brendan.



For all of this to be merely happenstance or an accident stretches the limits of any reasonable individual. The NHL sees this series as a mere formality; a pesky little team to shoo away like a fly, on their way forward.



We don't quite see it the same way.



The Islanders had to perform a herculean task to even MAKE the playoffs. Win all their remaining games, and have a host of other oddities occur around the NHL. It all came down to one game against the Devils, wherein the Devils tied the game with 0.08 remaining in the third. The Islanders won the game in a shootout. Don't even try to tell me there is no character, ethics or damn near mind boggling strength on this team. I've lived with these guys for over 30 years. I've been there since the beginning, I've seen it all.


So off we go to Buffalo, so these coddled crown princes can win.


I am not a fan of violence in the NHL. But hey you know what, guys? Beat the living shit of them. You're not gonna win anyway, you already know that, every penalty they can find in the handbook or make up will be thrown at you, every goal you score will be under scrutiny by the UN and The Hauge and eventually disallowed.



Don't hang you heads and skate off. Make them know and never forget you were here. I'm proud of you, weep for you and have an angry clenched fist in the air for you.

Like they say,

WE'RE ALL ISLANDERS

This added from Newsday. All you need to know is right here.

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Without getting into the roots of the NHL-against-the-Islanders conspiracy theory that pervades the atmosphere at Nassau Coliseum,let’s just consider the evidence Islanders general manager Garth Snow offered to the four major New York daily newspapers last night after Brendan Witt’s game-tying goal was waved off by referee Mike Leggo in Buffalo’s 4-2 Game 4 win to take a 3-1 lead in their first-round series.

Combined with Leggo’s explanation of his ruling, the Islanders’ video is a smoking gun if ever there was one.To recap the explanation in the game story in today’s Newsday, the video shown to reporters was a head-on view of Buffalogoaltender Ryan Miller as the puck hit him. At the time, Miller was on his knees basically sitting behind the goal line already. The puck drops in front of Miller and lands on the goal line – still not a goal. Islanders defenseman Witt skates in from the right side untouched and reaches for the puck with his stick. At that point, sight of the puck is lost behind a player’s skate, but you see Witt whack at it. Then, the picture opens up enough to see the puck go through Miller’s five-hole behind the goal line. Now, it’s a goal – a loose puck having been sent under Miller by Witt.

No whistle has blown. Then, Miro Satan comes down the middle, falling toward Miller. But in freeze frame, you could see Satan had not crashed into Miller and Witt was standing to the right of the goalie bent at the waist. Neither player was yet touching the Buffalo goaltender.

Leggo told a pool reporter the replay review was initiated in Toronto, but the NHL replay officials left it to him to make the call after looking at video evidence to confirm what he thought he saw. Leggo cited Rule 78.5, which says that, after a goaltender makes a save, he can’t be pushed into the net. The referee said he deemed Miller had made the save and was sitting on the puck. That was mistake No. 1. The puck clearly was loose in front. Explaining why he needed to look at the replay, Leggo said, “I wanted to make sure that it didn’t get shot in, that I had the right call.”

That was mistake No. 2. Witt shot the puck.