
The New York Islanders' 3-2 win over the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night ended with complete mayhem that included an ejection, Islanders coach Patrick Roy screaming and a replay review on what could have been a potential buzzer-beating game-tying goal.
It is probably the most chaotic ending of the 2025-26 NHL season to date.
Here's what happened.
Things really started to pop off when Stars forward Mikko Rantanen was ejected for boarding Islanders defenseman Alexander Romanov with just 27 seconds remaining.
Rantanen was assessed a match penalty for the hit, resulting in Roy screaming at him between the benches.
Patrick Roy had some words for Mikko Rantanen and the Dallas bench following the hit. https://t.co/J2bruMXtNJ pic.twitter.com/7d1lbf8VYw
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) November 19, 2025
Roy is no stranger to these sorts of altercations in his head-coaching career, and he has repeatedly gotten himself into verbal — and nearly physical — altercations with opponents. His first game as an NHL head coach with the Colorado Avalanche nearly resulted in him climbing over the glass to fight then-Anaheim Ducks head coach Bruce Boudreau.
He has passion.
But that was only the start of the crazy ending.
As the Islanders were attempting to cling to a one-goal lead, the Stars appeared to tie the game with a buzzer-beating goal that would have sent the game to overtime, completing a wild comeback that started with a goal just one minute earlier.
The only problem: The goal was taken away when it was determined that Stars forward Jason Robertson interfered with goalie David Rittich.
The Stars thought they tied the game with 0.1 seconds left, but the call was overturned due to goaltender interference pic.twitter.com/0iRcVW0WKk
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) November 19, 2025
Robertson definitely makes contact with Rittich in the crease, and he is responsible for making every possible effort to avoid that. But it is also true that Islanders defenseman Ryan Pulock gives him a pretty good hit that sends him into the crease and into Rittich.
The officials and NHL clearly did not think that was the cause of the interference and overturned the goal, securing the Islanders win. Goaltending interference can be a pretty subjective call. In this case, it did not favor the Stars.
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