Ducks baffled by controversial call on Islanders' shootout goal

Thomas Hickey's shootout goal wasn't the winner in Tuesday's marathon shootout victory by the New York Islanders, but the Anaheim Ducks couldn't help but question it after the game.

Two rounds before Nick Leddy's 14th-round snipe ended the longest shootout of the young season, Hickey beat Ducks goaltender Jonathan Bernier by nudging the puck in and appearing to push the netminder's pad.

"I think it was pretty obvious," Bernier told reporters postgame. "I made the save, my skate was going right to the post where I wanted it to be, and he pushed me in."

The play was called a goal on the ice, and the NHL's hockey operations department then conducted a review, as it is required to do in overtime and the shootout. The league deemed no goaltender interference occurred before the puck crossed the goal line.

"I was (of) the understanding that you cannot score a goal in the NHL today by pushing a goaltender's pad with the puck underneath it over the line," Ducks head coach Randy Carlyle told reporters.

"But I guess I was (proven) wrong again tonight and to much of our surprise, the explanation I was given was (that) they (had) called it a goal on the ice, so they couldn't determine that the puck wasn't in the net under his pad and it was inconclusive, that they couldn't tell if the puck was in the net or not."

Even Anaheim's social media staff weighed in.

The Islanders snapped a four-game losing skid with the victory, while the Ducks suffered their third loss in the last five games.

(Video courtesy: NHL.com)