Islanders' Patrick Roy irate after illegal check on Alexander Romanov; club holds on for 5th win of road trip
Islanders goaltender David Rittich blocks a shot during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Stars on Tuesday in Dallas. Credit: AP/Gareth Patterson
DALLAS — The Islanders won to continue their outstanding road trip and nobody was happy. Not an emotional Jean-Gabriel Pageau, nor a red-faced-with-anger coach Patrick Roy nor goalie David Rittich, who was a key factor in the victory.
Mikko Rantanen’s dangerous and late hit that injured Islanders defenseman Alexander Romanov in the final minute of a tense 3-2 win over the Stars on Tuesday night at American Airlines Center fueled the fury. Rantanen drew a five-minute major for boarding and a game misconduct with NHL supplementary discipline likely still to come.
There was no immediate update on Romanov, who lay writhing on the ice before being helped to the Islanders’ room at 19:32 of the third period. Roy, who coached Rantanen in Colorado, walked to the end of the Islanders’ bench to scream at his former player.
“I hope he’s going to be OK,” Roy said. “At this moment, I don’t know exactly what it is. All I’m going to say is when you see the number, you have to lay off. Everybody knows that. You don’t go through the guy. To me, it’s disrespectful for our guy. I was in Colorado when he was drafted there. It’s not his style. At the same time, that should not be part of our game.”
The Islanders (11-7-2) improved to 5-1-0 on this seven-game road trip, which concludes on Thursday night in Detroit, by snapping the Stars’ five-game winning streak.
“You put yourself in my shoes, one of your friends gets hurt on the ice, it’s way more important than hockey to me,” Pageau said. “We get the two points, we’re happy about that. Everyone’s first concern was Romy.”
Rittich made 22 saves as the Stars (12-5-3) got a six-on-five goal from Jason Robertson — his second of the game — to close within one at 18:01 of the third period. Then it appeared Wyatt Johnston had tied it with 0.1 seconds remaining but an NHL-initiated review determined that Robertson interfered with Rittich, clipping his skate and sending the goalie tumbling.
Yet it was initially ruled a good goal, leaving Rittich to skate toward center ice with his hands waving in disbelief.
“The first thing I felt was a skate in my skate and then I felt his body throw me,” an emotional Rittich told Newsday. “My hip and knee locked and I couldn’t move. If you’re going to allow this in the league, goalies are going to take care of business, as well. If you’re going to be run over, I believe goalies are going to do some actions, as well.”
But Rittich mostly wanted to talk about Romanov after his second win of the trip.
Rittich had opted not to roam far from his crease, instead wanting Romanov to play the puck as it headed below the goal line. Romanov skated toward the end wall before Rantanen drove the defenseman’s head into the glass at 19:32. It also appeared Romanov may have hurt his leg.
“I feel really bad and really sorry for Romy,” Rittich said. “I could obviously have played that differently. But it’s six on five. I just tried to set it up for him so he could rim it. I didn’t think somebody was going to be that dumb and tackle a player like that. It didn’t show me any respect at all from that particular player to our player. I don’t think that should be part of the game.”
The Islanders took a 3-1 lead on Kyle Palmieri’s two-on-one shorthanded rush at 7:38 of the third period, their NHL-leading fifth shorthanded goal.
Rookie Cal Ritchie, with his first point in 10 games since being recalled from AHL Bridgeport, opened the scoring from the low slot at 10:31 of the second period before Robertson converted a give-and-go with Tyler Seguin to tie it at 12:26 of the second period. Bo Horvat’s swipe at the crease gave the Islanders a 2-1 edge at 3:12 of the third period.
The Stars’ Jake Oettinger made 19 saves.
Notes & quotes: Simon Holmstrom (illness) could not play ... Horvat was issued a four-minute high-sticking penalty and a 10-minute misconduct at 6:48 of the third period .... Roy had his line blender on puree starting midway through the first period with numerous combinations ... Roy said goalie Ilya Sorokin will start against the Red Wings.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
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