The Islanders absorbed a crushing blow in Monday’s 4-3 overtime loss in Washington when they learned that ironman defenseman Adrian Aucoin had strained his groin late in the game, an injury the referees had nothing to do with.
Aucoin, who still played 26:23, left the ice after playing nearly 10 minutes of the third period and is listed as day-to-day. Reinforcements from Bridgeport in the form of Sven Butenschon or Brandon Smith – who took part in an informal skate with a handful of Islanders yesterday – will no doubt be summoned before tonight’s game against the Devils at the Meadowlands.
The Islanders and in particular captain Michael Peca, were enraged at the officiating Monday, which they felt cost them the game when Kenny Jonsson was whistled for holding Mike Grier’s stick in the final minutes of overtime. Generally, refs swallow their whistles at that time, but Peca believed the penalty was payback for the Isles’ protest of an earlier bench minor for too many men on the ice. The OT power play allowed Jaromir Jagr to win the game with less than a minute remaining.
“The refereeing seems to be dictated by emotion at times,” Peca said. “And to try to teach you a lesson with no regard for the rule book. It’s frustrating.”
The Isles have been battling officiating they maintain has been inconsistent for more than a year now, ever since Peter Laviolette took exception to a pair of late calls in an overtime loss at New Jersey. Laviolette was fined after the loss for chasing down referees Blaine Angus and Dan Marouelli and informing them that they’d cost his team the game.
Ever since that incident, which was followed not much later by Chris Osgood taking aim at the officiating, the Isles have often made the case that refs were targeting them for opening their mouths, as they did after Monday’s bench minor that gave the Caps a 5-on-3 advantage and also led to Washington’s first goal.
Tonight they return to the scene of the original offense to face off against the Devils (24-12-3-3) who are coming off a 6-2 win Monday against Florida in which they got a pair of goals from Michael Rupp, a 1998 Islander draft pick who never dressed for the Isles.
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Tampa GM Jay Feaster yesterday denied the storm of trade rumors involving possible three-way deals between the Lightning, Islanders and Bruins that would bring holdout defenseman Kyle McLaren to the Isles. Several players, including Brad Isbister, Chris Osgood and Roman Hamrlik have been named, among others, and one report out of Boston said that Isbister had already been told he was being shipped to the Bruins.
Raffi Torres also participated in yesterday’s informal practice, although nobody was formally recalled or sent down.
Isles are 8-2-1-2 in their last 13 and have captured a point in 11 of those games since Dec. 23. … Alexei Yashin, who on Monday registered only two shots on net, with none until the third period, has only a single assist in the last five games.