New York Islanders Need to Remind NHL About Accountability

Losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins was a tough pill to swallow. But do we blame circumstance, bad bounces, or something a little more underhanded?

Do superstar players have a different set of rules? I just came out and laid out the point of this post right away. Against the Penguins, where the New York Islanders outdone by a missed call by the officials?

On Thursday night the Islanders locked horns against the Pens for the first time since that embarrassing 5-0 defeat last season. A defeat so severe it caused John Tavares to come out and throw his teammates under the same Penguins bus that was leaving town after laying the smack-down on the Isles.

Must Read: Isles Get Ready for Penguins

The Isles came out and dominated play for a full forty minutes before capitulating in the third and eventually losing the game 4-2. Two late goals sank the Isles on that day. A game winner by Crosby and Kessel PPG to rub salt in the wounds.

In the post game, Johnny Boychuk came out to shed some light on what happened on that Crosby game winner.

“It’s frustrating when you get elbowed in the head and that guy scores the goal,” is what Boychuk told Arthur Staple.

Look at how Boychuk stumbles after the hit. A stumbling Boychuck doesn’t happen after a shoulder-to-shoulder hit. Because it wasn’t shoulder-to-shoulder. It was a hit to the head that was blatantly missed by officials.

Preferential Treatment

A missed call on a game-winning-goal. It’s not easy as an Isles fan to accept that loss. But you know what, officials sometimes miss things. It’s human and it’s what makes sport interesting. but surely the league will review this in the days to come and dole out some sort of soft punishment.

Nothing. The Department of Player Safety made no inquiry. No calls were made to Crosby, to my knowledge at least. The hit went unpunished.

Do I think Crosby gets preferential treatment by the league? Of course, you’d have to be wearing a Pens jersey to think otherwise.

We all want to see these hits go away. Headshots, whether accidental or not, need to go. But what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.

If Crosby and the other superstars in the league need to be protected from headshots and then so do the rest. Which espouses that any player found guilty of going against that directive should be punished.

Either in the moment or retroactively.

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Crosby got away with one. And it costs us two points. The league needs to remember that in order to keep their superstars safe they need to keep their superstars accountable.

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