Islanders question officiating after losing two-goal lead, falling to Devils in overtime

It was the best game this season for Ilya Sorokin and the most gut-wrenching, frustrating loss for the Islanders.

Coach Pete DeBoer opened his postgame news conference by praising his goalie and declining to talk about the officiating. That about summed up the Islanders’ emotions after a 5-4 overtime loss to the Devils, who held a lopsided advantage in shots, chances and power plays and battled back from a two-goal deficit in the third period on Saturday night at UBS Arena. It ended the Islanders’ homestand at a disappointing 0-2-1.

Jack Hughes’ breakaway goal at 1:18 of the extra period won it. He was sprung free after Matthew Schaefer went down heading to the Devils’ crease, seemingly tripped by defenseman Luke Hughes.

DeBoer wouldn’t comment, but others did.

“It’s an obvious penalty,” said Simon Holmstrom, who gave the Islanders a 3-2 lead at 5:08 of the second period 26 seconds after Devils defenseman Declan Chisholm had tied it. “If you compare them to the other ones, I think it’s pretty obvious, but it is what it is.”

“Going to the net, I fell. I thought I could have gotten one there,” said Schaefer, who tucked in his own rebound to give the Islanders a 2-1 lead at 17:14 of the first period and has 16 points (five goals, 11 assists) in 16 games. “But at the end of the day, we wished to have not been in OT.”

The Islanders (7-6-3), who will open a three-game California trip on Monday night in San Jose, began the homestand with a 4-0 loss to the Oilers, who went 1-for-6 on the power play.

The Devils (12-5-0), who went 1-for-4 on the man advantage, tied it at 4-4 on defenseman Dougie Hamilton’s power-play shot from the slot at 13:42 of the third period. That included 33 seconds of a failed five-on-three after defenseman Adam Pelech was called for high-sticking Anthony Mantha apparently only after the replay was shown on the video board.

The Islanders did not receive a power play.

“I don’t know what to say, to be honest with you,” captain Bo Horvat said. “I highly doubt they played a perfect game. We didn’t and obviously got called for it. But it’s hard to believe that they played 65 minutes of clean hockey. But they saw it differently.”

It led to the Devils having a 50-23 advantage in shots, easily the most shots the Islanders have allowed this season, and an 81-44 edge in overall chances. According to NaturalStatTrick.com, the Devils held a 21-16 edge in high-danger chances while skating five-on-five and 28-16 in all situations.

“We definitely weren’t at our best tonight, no question,” Horvat said. “Sorokie, it’s one of the best performances I’ve seen him do in I don’t know how long. He’s always phenomenal, but tonight he was extra special and kept us in the game and got us a point tonight.”

“Sorokin was absolutely outstanding,” DeBoer said. “By far his best game for us all year.”

The Islanders had won six straight against the Devils and outscored them 17-1 in their last three games at UBS Arena, including a 6-0 victory on Oct. 3.

The Devils have won all four games that three-time Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck has started since he was acquired from the Jets, but with Hellebuyck scheduled to start Sunday night’s game in Toronto, Jake Allen was in the net.

The Devils also got a power play after a lengthy scrum with 32.1 seconds left in the second period. Defenseman Logan Stanley initiated it with a slash on Nico Hischier at the Islanders’ crease. It ended with a pseudo-fight between two of the NHL’s better young defensemen in Schaefer and Luke Hughes.

Each received two minutes for roughing despite throwing punches because they never removed their gloves. That was the only thing keeping the 19-year-old Schaefer from his first NHL fight.

“We already had a penalty coming at us,” he said. “We kind of bumped and then just started grabbing each other and it went from there. It just happened so quick.”

Anthony Duclair took Holmstrom’s feed to open the scoring at 15:06, but Evan Rodrigues got to Sorokin’s crease to tie it 17 seconds later.

Rookie Victor Eklund, who scored his first goal in the early-season rout of the Devils, made it 4-2 at 11:54 of the second period, but Luke Evangelista banked in a sharp-angle shot off Sorokin to cut the Devils’ deficit to one at 6:08.

The game marked the Islanders debut of defenseman Ben Hutton, who agreed to a one-year, $900,000 deal on Thursday after being brought in on a professional tryout agreement three days earlier. He logged 16:03 paired with Matt Kessel, who received 2:25 of his 18:20 on the penalty kill.

Pelech played 4:49 shorthanded and Stanley logged 4:23 on the penalty kill.

By Andrew Gross

andrew.gross@newsday.comAGrossNewsday

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.