The New York Islanders find themselves 3-2-1 after a victorious effort against the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night. The boys followed up on a three-game losing streak to break their .500 record, winning 3-2 at home.
The first period was a solid twenty from the Islanders, keeping heavy pressure on the Senators defense. Casey Cizikas was an absolute weapon on the forecheck, as always, and JG Pageau continued to play well against his former team. Defensive structure once again blessed UBS Arena as they smothered many of Ottawa’s scoring chances. Ilya Sorokin was a factor as always, making it look easy against some major snipers like Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stützle.
However, the brief glimpse of awesome hockey was haunted by another period of failing to hold a lead. After the unfortunate injury to Erik Brannstrom, due to an unsuspecting hit from Clutterbuck, the Isles lost control of the game and the 2-0 lead. The biggest factor is the inability to stay out of the box. We already saw the brutal ending to the Devils game thanks to spending so much time on the PK, and this one could have gone similarly. The Islanders took 8 penalties last night, largely in the 2nd period, ruining any sort of flow for the team.
With Ottawa back in the game at 2-2, the Islanders managed to pick up the pace once again in the 3rd, pouring the pressure on Korpisalo at the opposite end, who left a lot of juicy rebounds that didn’t get jumped on. Nonetheless, Noah Dobson shot home a cannon thanks to a quick dish from Barzy to take the lead with about thirteen minutes left. It was a long wait ‘til the end, as we Isles’ fans are no stranger to seeing goals given up in the dying seconds of a game.
Bo Horvat continues to put up points, closing out the night with a powerplay goal and an assist on the game-winner from Dobby. Bo and Barzal are looking slick out there and it couldn’t be more important as the Islanders try to keep themselves in that early race to Thanksgiving.
Oddly enough, this season so far has seen the Islander defense struggle more than the offense (again partially due to the constant penalty-killing). Last night was a perfect example of playing at least well enough to allow Sorokin to keep them in the game. Ideally, things will tighten up as time progresses, but a win is a win!
One major positive from this game was the amount of shooting from the Islanders, landing 38 total shots on goal, including 17 in the impressive first period. It may be costing them a bit of structure, but the high-flying, pucks-on-net version of this team is still more encouraging than years of barren offense and useless power-plays. The Isles had not one, but TWO PPG last night. Look at that.
With some kinks to work out, the Islanders were fortunate to close out a hard-fought battle against another team on the brink of falling behind early. Let’s keep it up, boys!
Cover Photo Credit: Robert Sabo, NY Post
The Morning Skate 