Refs ignore tripping call on Islanders’ tying goal, outrage ensues (Video)
Moments before John Tavares tied Game 6 of the New York Islanders’ series with the Florida Panthers with 54 seconds left in regulation, Matt Martin may have gotten away with one:
Florida’s Vincent Trocheck was angling to attempt a shot at the Islanders’ empty net when Martin dropped to the ice and attempted to sweep the puck off his stick. Instead, he sent Trocheck tumbling to the ice, and eventually the Islanders went from defense to offense and sent the game to overtime.
The Score called it a missed call. The Sporting News called it “the worst non-call of the Stanley Cup playoffs.”
First off, this angle doesn’t tell us if Martin got the puck first. But he probably didn’t. Which brings us to our next point:
DID YOU HONESTLY THINK ANY TRIPPING CALL WAS GOING TO BE WHISTLED WITH THE GOALIE PULLED IN A GAME 6?
C’mon, people: This isn’t the first rodeo for any of us. The Islanders aren’t getting called there. The Panthers aren’t getting called there. No team is getting called there. It’s always ‘play on, playah’ in that situation. If you think the Panthers were jobbed out of a Game 7 because of that call, you’re literally asking for a standard of enforcement that doesn’t exist in the playoffs.
There’s a reason Game 6 and Game 7 have a miniscule number of penalties in comparison to the previous three games and the regular season: The zebras don’t want to decide it.
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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at [email protected] or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.
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