As is true with many coaches in the NHL, Travis Green only really shows emotion on the bench when he’s yelling at the referees.

That was the case tonight when the New York Islanders scored a pivotal 4-2 goal that Green (and anyone with eyes) thought was a clear kicking motion by forward Tom Kuhnhackl.

https://twitter.com/NYIslanders/status/1062526942354857985

You didn’t have to be a professional lip reader (or have John Garrett interpret it for you) to know that Green shouted “Are you fucking kidding me?” right after the goal was awarded by the war room in Toronto.

It was a cry repeated around Vancouver, to no avail. And it was the clincher in a game the Canucks jumped out to an early lead in, thanks to Brendan Leipsic’s first goal since opening night.

But a couple bad bounces later and it was 2-1 New York, with a Tom Kuhnhackl (his first of the night) tally Jacob Markstrom would love to have back, and a Josh Bailey goal that went off Chris Tanev and in the net.

Jordan Eberle scored to make it 3-1 after he was left alone in front of the net as Troy Stecher lost track of him. The second period was a good one for the Canucks, as they won the period 1-0 on a power play bouncing puck goal by Jake Virtanen.

But that was it for the Canucks, as they couldn’t respond after Kuhnhackl’s second. Cal Clutterbuck would score on the power play at the tail end to make it to 5-2 New York.

Here’s what else stood out for us in the loss.

Three that impressed

1. Mathew Barzal

It’s too bad that Brock Boeser wasn’t on the ice, because it’s always fun to conjure up a rivalry out of the two sophomores, who battled for the Calder Trophy last year. But Barzal was plainly terrific tonight, creating chances out of nothing and confounding Canucks defencemen with ease. He ended the night with two assists but could have many more.

2. Erik Gudbranson

Yep, he was a minus-2, but hey, he drew two penalties, made a nice rush with Tyler Motte near the end of the game and roughed up Cal Clutterbuck (possibly for his hit last year that ended Boeser’s Calder Trophy run early.

3. Brendan Leipsic

Two points, 19 minutes in ice time and six shots (tied with Virtanen for the game’s most) for a player that appeared to be deeply entrenched in Green’s doghouse coming into the contest. It was clear that the coach thought the forward had jump, as he was giving him ample time out there. Leipsic didn’t disappoint; he looked dangerous all night.

Three that didn’t

1. Elias Pettersson

Welcome to the negative section for the first time this year, rook. This year’s likely Calder winner (yeah, it’s not too early to say it), Pettersson was still his usual playmaking self, but he wasn’t at his best defensively or on the power play tonight. The second PP unit for the Canucks was the better one, and Pettersson found himself with a minus-3 rating on the night (the worst of any player).

2. The refs

Maybe it’s not specifically on the refs who were on the ice for the game, but the head office in Toronto has to call that a kicking motion. We wouldn’t be surprised if there’s something of a retraction from the league for the call.

3. Idiots

We know it’s not related to the game per say, but c’mon. Who does this?

Notable

- The Islanders have been criticized for not having earned their success this season, boasting a high PDO (which measures luck) and a low Corsi (the difference of shot attempts for and against). The Canucks have taken similar heat, as Vancouver—somewhat astoundingly—leads the Pacific despite a negative-6 goal differential. The Islanders definitely outplayed Vancouver tonight, winning the shot battle 34-24 and generally looking more dangerous.

- The Canucks did battle against a couple old rivals tonight, as Cal Clutterbuck (formerly of the Minnesota Wild) and Jordan Eberle (a long-time Edmonton Oiler) are both familiar to Canucks fans. Both ended up scoring goals too, which no doubt irked anyone old enough to remember the bad blood that used to flow through the Northwest Division.

- New York put up a reported attendance of 8,806 people at Barclays Center, which is not a positive development for a team currently building a new 18,000-seat arena at Belmont Park. It was a Tuesday, yes, but still. Yikes.

- Tonight was one of those games where it was very obvious the Canucks could really use Alex Edler and Brock Boeser back from injury. The former’s steadiness on the backend and occasional ability to chip in on the power play are finally starting to be felt in the win-loss column. Likewise, not having the latter’s goal-scoring chops is becoming a problem.

Quotable

“I thought it was definitely a kicking motion. [The goal] was deflating I think.” – Travis Green

“Just trying to get my feet under me a bit, it’s been a bit of a roller-coaster start to the season.” – Brendan Leipsic

“They got the bounces and we didn’t have enough push in the 3rd period to come back.” – Bo Horvat

“Some things went right for us tonight and we needed that.” Mathew Barzal

“The first couple of minutes weren’t very appealing…But in that first period we got people around their net and that was very difficult for them.” – Islanders coach Barry Trotz