LAS VEGAS -- To challenge for goaltender interference or not to challenge for goaltender interference -- that is the question that the New York Islanders faced twice on Thursday night against the Vegas Golden Knights.
At 18:56 of the second, Vegas defenseman Shea Theodore shimmied to the front of the net before pushing the puck and Ilya Sorokin's right pad into the goal:
Really surprised they didn’t challenge, thought for sure this was interference. https://t.co/DEf2Coddsipic.twitter.com/4h5qxAtrrM
— Jonny Lazarus (@JLazzy23) November 14, 2025
The Islanders took a good-hard look at it, but chose not to challenge.
"It was a tough call," Islanders head coach Patrick Roy said postgame. "I mean, I think part of us wanted to challenge it, but at the same time, I mean, we felt like the puck was loose, and it was like a loose puck. He definitely pushed the pad. There's no doubt about that, but we thought it was a loose puck, so that's why we didn't do it."
Here's what Sorokin said postgame:
"Yeah, I feel [my pad was pushed in there]. I think it was 50/50," Sorokin said. "Because I watched the review in the game, and I feel it's an insane moment, puck goes in the net."
Later on in the game, at the 10:45 mark of the third period, Reilly Smith buried the 3-2 go-ahead goal. But, the Islanders did in fact challenge for goaltender interference as Brett Howden pushed Kyle Palmieri into Sorokin, limiting the ability for the star netminder to make a play on the shot.
21 ➡️ 20 ➡️ 19 ➡️ 🥅 pic.twitter.com/jU85Zuvtr8
— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) November 14, 2025
"I mean, the Hawkeye went down, and I thought the league should have done something about this, and then they should have reviewed themselves and decided if it was a good goal or not," Roy said. "Rule 69.1 says that when the player pushes an opponent into the goalie...So I don't know if the writing is it means something anymore, you know, and if doesn't, if it's not the case, they have to redo the rule book."
One thing about this last challenge is Roy's confidence in the penalty kill, which is now 10-for-11 on this road trip and 23 for their last 25.
“We have a lot of trust in the way we’re killing the penalties right now, and Boughner deserves a lot of credit for working so hard with our guys, and our guys deserve a lot of credit to put a lot of pride into it,” Roy said. “But at the same time, it allows you to take chances. Example, on that challenge call. I mean, if you didn’t trust, you would not challenge, but you believe that you’re going to kill it.”
The Islanders ultimately overcame their non-challenge and challenge, winning 4-3 in overtime courtesy of a Jean-Gabriel Pageau shorthanded goal.
They play game five of a seven-game road trip on Friday night against the Utah Mammoth. Puck drop is at 9 PM ET.
Is it time to panic, yet?
That was the question following the fourth straight loss by the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday.
Eighteen games in, the Leafs have won eight games, which matches their fewest number of wins to start a season since drafting Auston Matthews in 2016. That they accomplished this unflattering feat with one of the most favourable schedules in NHL has to be concerning.
After all, 13 of Toronto’s 18 games have been played at home. Only four of their opponents so far this season (Montreal, New Jersey, Carolina and Los Angeles) made the playoffs last year. And yet, following Thursday’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Kings, the Leafs find themselves in 14th place in the Eastern Conference standings.
That’s the bad news.
The good news is that even with Matthews out of the lineup with a lower-body injury and both of their goalies currently unavailable, the Leafs are only four points out of first place.
In other words, there's no reason to panic — yet.
“Panic’s never going to help,” said coach Craig Berube. “But there is a level of urgency, for sure. It’s been there for a minutes. But I’m not going to panic. That doesn’t help anything or anybody.”
Give it a couple of more weeks and Berube might feel different.
'Maybe End The Season': Maple Leafs Fans Sound The Alarm After Matthews' Injury And Another LossThe Toronto Maple Leafs allowed 15 goals in their last three games, and Auston Matthews' status is uncertain after suffering a lower-body injury. Some fans are already bringing up tanking.After all, U.S. Thanksgiving (Nov. 27) has long been the barometer for predicting whether teams will make the playoffs. Last year, only three teams that were out of a playoff spot by the holiday weekend ended up qualifying for the post-season.
Toronto was not one of those teams. By Thanksgiving last year, the team was in first place in the Atlantic Division with a 13-7-2 record. The Leafs ended up winning their division. But that team had Mitch Marner. That team also had a defensive identity, which along with their 100-point winger, who was traded to Vegas in the summer, appears to have vanished this season.
This year’s Leafs lack confidence and structure. They turnover too many pucks. They give up too many shots, too many odd-man rushes and far too many goals — especially in the second period, where Toronto has now given up 27 goals this season, the second most behind the Edmonton Oilers, who've given up 29.
It’s their second year playing under Berube, but it looks like he and his system were implemented less than a month ago.
The Leafs' offense is ranked fourth with 3.61 goals per game, which according to William Nylander is a positive because "scoring goals (is) that's harder." But they're also averaging the most goals-against (3.83 per game) and the fifth-most shots (31.2 per game). On Thursday, Toronto gave up a 2-0 lead in the second period, and a 3-2 lead in the third period, after being outshot 37-15 in a game that they never deserved to be leading in the first place.
'That Doesn't Help Anything Or Anybody': Maple Leafs Not Hitting The Panic Button Yet Despite Four Straight LossesThe <a href="https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/lak-vs-tor/2025/11/13/2025020269">Toronto Maple Leafs got ahead of the L.A. Kings</a> early on Thursday night, yet they didn't finish the game on the winning end.
"We got the lead in the third and I thought we sat back a little too much," said Berube. "You know, again, just advancing that puck up the ice with speed, jumping, getting the holes. It's confidence for me a little bit, and puck play. Like, you know, the plays are there. We're just not making them and just not seeing it well enough right now, but we've got to pick up our pace. We've got to be more confident in those plays. To me, that's the difference in the game."
One month in, Toronto, which has made the playoffs in each of the past nine seasons, doesn’t look like a playoff team. Instead, they look like that team that won eight games in 2016-17, back when Matthews, Marner and William Nylander were rookies and the Leafs hadn't figured out how good they were supposed to be.
Why this team, which is older and more experienced, hasn't figured that part is might be the most confusing aspect of this season so far.
“I don’t think you go out and expect anything,” said John Tavares, who had a pair of goals against the Kings on Thursday. “I think you have to go out there and earn it. I think with the team we have, a veteran team, we know we haven’t been to the level that we expect on a consistent basis. We have to work our way through it. Obviously, it’s been a battle for us … things are only getting tougher and tougher within our own division, within the league.”
Well, before things get tougher, they get easier. Or, at least, it should be easier.
The Leafs have five more games before U.S. Thanksgiving. Three of them are against teams that did not make the playoffs last year.
If that's not enough to get the Leafs into a temporary playoff spot, then they probably don't deserve to be in one in the first place.
“There’s lots of hockey left,” said Tavares. “But that doesn’t mean that you don’t take any game for granted. They all mean the same. But obviously, the more games that go by there’s less runway.
“We still have more than half the season to go — we’re not even at the quarter mark yet.”
Very quietly, the fourth line of the Philadelphia Flyers has not been good for much of anything this season, but, fortunately for them, reinforcements are now expected to become available.
On Thursday afternoon, Toronto Maple Leafs forward David Kampf, who was previously suspended without pay for not playing for the AHL Toronto Marlies, was placed on waivers for the purpose of terminating his contract with the team.
The two sides ultimately reached an amicable agreement, and Kampf, 30, is expected to become a free agent after clearing waivers at 2 p.m. EST on Friday.
Kampf's $2.4 million cap hit for two more seasons, on top of not being on the Maple Leafs' NHL roster, likely put teams off from making a trade offer for his services, but, assuming he signs a minimum contract somewhere for one season, that issue is gone at the snap of a finger.
As for the Flyers, they have not gotten much from centers Jacob Gaucher and Rodrigo Abols this season, and Abols, in his most recent game for the team against the Edmonton Oilers, lost all five of his faceoffs and played just 6:21.
Flyers Player Development Taking Sour Turn, Sluggish Performances Piling UpThe Philadelphia Flyers must find more ways to put their core players in positions to succeed now and in the future.It has become clear that Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet has little faith in this particular unit, which makes it an equally unfit environment to throw a young player, like Nikita Grebenkin, into.
The good news is that, according to Daily Faceoff NHL insider Anthony Di Marco "it sounds like" the Flyers have interest in a terminated Kampf at a "low-dollar value."
"Wonder about PHI here. They could use an upgrade at 4C and it sounds like they have interest in Kampf at a low dollar value," Di Marco posted on his X account in response to Kampf's placement on waivers Thursday.
As for the kind of player the 6-foot-2 center is, he has historically been a reliable fourth-line pivot who has shown capable of scoring an appropriate amount of points relative to his role.
For instance, in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons, Kampf scored 11 and seven goals and 26 and 27 points, respectively.
In addition to just the raw stats, Kampf is, according to last season's NHL EDGE data, a slightly above-average skater, ranking in the 57th percentile for max skating speed, and that comes while spending 5% more time in the defensive zone than league average.
Oh, and the majority of Kampf's shots on goal came from the low slot. The dirty areas are key for Tocchet, and that will do it.
At his very best, in the aforementioned 2021-22 season, Kampf's defensive metrics ranked towards the top of the NHL at his position.
The Czech forward was, and still is, a stout penalty-killer, reliable at even strength in matchup situations, and even got some bounces offensively, scoring and generating more than what was expected.
While the last two seasons, of course, have not gone according to plan for Kampf and the Maple Leafs, the veteran center still represents an obvious and sizeable upgrade down the middle for the Flyers.
Free agent addition Christian Dvorak was widely expected to fill that role, but, to this point, is playing more positionally-versatile minutes in the top-nine forward group than just about anybody thought.
Of course, Jett Luchanko's objective regression from last season did not help matters, so the Flyers were left with Abols, Gaucher, and a seemingly never-ending puzzle.
Kampf is sure to have offers from plenty of Stanley Cup contenders, but the Flyers would be foolish not to at least buy a ticket to the raffle.