Cale Makar earns Lady Byng votes with the classiest move of the season

In case you missed it last night, the New York Islanders were in Denver, CO to face the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche. The Avs ended up with a tidy 1-0 victory on the evening, but after the game the story wasn't about the score but about a show of sportsmanship by superstar defenseman Cale Makar.

Late in the first period with the score tied Makar was chased out from behind his net by Isles forward Mathew Barzal when it appeared that Barzal tripped up Makar as he attempted to break out of the zone. Except... that's not quite what happened.

While it certainly looked like Makar was tripped by Barzal and the closest referee had his arm raised for a delayed penalty call, there was no penalty on the play. That's because Makar himself waved it off, telling the official afterward that he simply lost an edge and fell on his own. In effect, Makar talked him and his teammates out of a free powerplay.

Check out the entire scenario:

That's either next level sportsmanship or the dumbest thing I've ever seen... not sure how I feel, honestly...

One thing I do know though, with that play alone Makar just earned himself a handful of Lady Byng votes as the NHL's most gentlemanly player. Which, honestly I think isn't such a bad thing. He's obviously a very sportsmanlike player and, to me, he exemplifies everything that the Lady Byng Trophy is supposed to represent.

Now me personally though... I'd never wave off a potential power play.

There are times where the refs obviously get the call wrong and you know that you and your teammates just got a freebie, but that's just the way it goes. That's hockey. Sometimes those calls go in your favor and sometimes they go against you. In hockey, like in life, you've got to take the good with the bad. You owe no one an apology for the referee's bad calls. The best thing you can do is take advantage of the opportunities in front of you.

After the game though, Makar's coach and players were mostly laughing off him declining the powerplay.

“It kind of shows you who Cale is,” coach Jared Bednar said. “Typical Cale.”

“The ref who called it wasn’t the guy at center ice,” Makar said after Colorado’s win. “He was kind of behind the net on the far side. I don’t think he had a good angle on it. He just saw me fall. I would like to think most times I fall it’s usually because somebody trips me. That one I just lost an edge. I felt pretty guilty for the boys there.”

“I felt a lot more guilty about doing that than probably if I would’ve said nothing,” he added. “I don’t know if it’s something I’ll do again.”

As for Barzal, he said what we're all thinking: “Obviously, good sportsmanship on his part. I don’t know if I would have done the same, to be honest with you.”