Top Shelf : Islanders Daily : 5/21/2013

Apr. 6, 2013; Uniondale, NY, USA; Tampa Bay Lightning right wing

(14) handles the puck as New York Islanders defenseman

(47) gives chase during the second period at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Debby Wong-USA TODAY Sports

Middletown, N. J. – Officiating reared its ugly head again last night in Detroit during the Red Wings victory over the Chicago Blackhawks. A controversial non-call on a potential boarding penalty to Niklas Hjalmarsson on Johan Franzen led to an alley-oop pass and a goal by Patrick Kane then almost immediately following, a clear goal by the Hawks that would have tied the game was waved off for goaltender interference.

The problems from the first round have not corrected themselves as the NHL seems content to let this postseason potentially be decided on referees who just cannot seem to find any consistency in their own games.

I am hesitant to go back to round one where the Islanders found themselves playing games with many phantom calls. Always a believer in that all infractions called and not called tend to even themselves out, it seems the league is on a dangerous path to allowing some of the most important games of the season to be decided by the men in stripes rather than Reebok sponsored uniforms.

Eyes had our staff meeting last night and finalized our upcoming off-season schedule. We have some great material coming your way starting with our collaborative end of season recap followed by individual player report cards. In between, you will still get your smattering of op/ed pieces by our outstanding stable of writers. Thanks for reading and we will try and get you to training camp in September as quickly as possible.

Links

• Chris Triantifilis takes a look at the potential plans of Garth Snow in the Islanders crease
• Andy Schmidt echos my thoughts on the Eric Boulton signing
• More on the MSG-Coliseum fiasco from Islanders Point Blank
• Nino hopes to build on his successful tournament at the World Championship

Around The Twitter-Sphere

• Sharing the same feeling we all have Ryan. It promises to be a longer summer than usual with all the excitement that this club generated. We just want to see them back on the ice immediately surprising the entire league.

• Ah, one can dream Pat! The Blackhawks were never serious about parting with Saad at the trade deadline and the chances now are none and none. Garth Snow seemed extremely upset about them bringing up Mark Streit‘s name in trade rumors and fired back to get the media going.

• Well said Jeff….At the end of the day, custom covers are available almost immediately for the games outer shell so you can put Colton Orr or even Paul Bissonette on your cover if you choose. It’s really just as obnoxious as the voting for the next American Idol. More a popularity contest than picking the most deserving candidate.

Around The NHL

•  Only one game on the ledger last night and it was a good one in Detroit as the Red Wings take a 2-1 series lead over the top seeded Blackhawks, winning 3-1. Aside from the aforementioned officiating issues explained in the opener of today’s Top Shelf, it was an outstanding game of end to end action, goaltending and some huge hits. Later in the game the series intensity cranked up ten notches as the two teams were going at each other seemingly each and every whistle. After a two day break it sets up for what should be an outstanding game four on Thursday evening. It is the first time all season the Blackhawks have been faced with a must-win situation and we will see just how they handle the adversity after cruising through the regular season and opening round.

–AG