Devils cry foul in loss to Jets

NEWARK − A night after being eliminated from playoff contention, all the Winnipeg Jets wanted to talk about was coming back from a two-goal deficit against the woeful Devils.

For the Devils, who were eliminated last week, the only thing on their minds was the failure of the officials to call a penalty shot in the final 31 seconds of overtime.

Patrik Laine scored in a shootout, Connor Hellebuyck stopped all three New Jersey attempts and the Jets rallied for a 4-3 win on Tuesday night in the makeup of a game that was postponed by a snowstorm earlier this month.

The Devils, who had three penalty shots called against them in two recent games, felt they would have gotten the extra point had referees Dan O’Rourke and Chris Schlenker awarded Hall a penalty shot late in the overtime after Blake Wheeler tripped him on a breakaway.

Devils coach John Hynes stated the facts as he saw them: Hall had a clear-cut breakaway and was denied a shot because of the trip. “I don’t envy the ref’s position,” Hall said. “They have to make so many hard choices throughout the game so sometimes they see something that maybe they look at on video and see another thing after the game. I don’t know. You just want to see some consistency. I would have loved to have a penalty shot to win.”

Hall didn’t get the chance and Hellebuyck, who made 20 saves, stopped John Quenneville, Hall and Pavel Zacha in the shootout.

Beau Bennett, Hall, Stefan Noesen tallied for the Devils, who have four straight and won only twice (2-12-4) in 18 games.

Associated Press