Desperate times call for desperate measures. It was time to turn the ship around. That only meant one thing…it was time to bring the Dads on a road trip. Each year the Islanders pick a road trip and let the players bring their Dads and Mentors. It is a great way for them to bond an say thank you for all the years of support during their hockey career. The New York Islanders had lost three games in a row for the third time this season and looked to get back on the right track with a game in Philadelphia against the Flyers.
The game represented the start of a quick three game road trip that sees the Islanders visiting the Boston Bruins on Saturday night and the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday afternoon. Considering how they had played recently, including a very poor performance at home against a struggling Florida Panthers team, it probably was a good idea to go on the road for a couple of games.
The Islanders had won the first two games between the two teams this year. They won a 1-0 shootout earlier in the year and a wild 7-4 matinee game, both at the Nassau Coliseum. The Flyers came into the game on a four game win streak and were starting to flex their muscles. It was not a must-win game for the Islanders, however it was imperative to get the road trip off to a good start. Especially with all the Dads watching closely.
Kyle Okposo, who has been out with a detached retina (or what they call in the trade an upper body injury), has had a sobering affect on this team. Taking him out of the line-up has created a void on the top line, but more importantly a bigger void in the locker room. Anders Lee has stepped up in his absence, but truth be told there needs to be a much bigger effort from the other three lines. The Islanders have shown depth and balance all year, but now it will be truly tested over the next couple of weeks.
The Islanders came into the game a single point behind the Pittsburgh Penguins, a single point ahead of the New York Rangers, and only three points in front of the Washington Capitals. Now was not the time for a losing streak. A few more loses and the media will be jumping off the bandwagon as fast as they got on. It they can get by this little stretch they should be in good shape as they have a slew of home games coming up the rest of the month.
Head Coach Jack Capuano had Jaroslav Halak in net and Brian Strait in for Lubomir Visnovsky, who was a healthy scratch. That was a mild surprise and when asked Capuano said, “Well, the last time we won against Philadelphia Strait was in there.” Not sure if it was a slight against Lubo, a reward for Strait, or if Capuano was trying to send a message to his team after a few bad losses. One thing for sure, Colin MacDonald was not on the trip after being yo-yoed back and forth between Bridgeport and Long Island a couple of times in the past week.
The Islanders came out in the first period with a little bit of fire as they immediately pounced on the Flyers goaltender, Steve Mason. It really was not much of a first period. Matt Martin tussled with Ryan White just two minutes in and both had to go off the ice for repairs. MattyMarts broke his nose in the process. The Islanders spent the majority of their time in the Philadelphia zone but Mason was standing on his head and blocked everything the Islanders threw at him. The only score came off of a turnover at the Islanders blue line. Vinny Lecavalier had his shot blocked, but Nick Schultz cruised into slot and beat Halak high glove to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead. Halak made a couple of key saves to keep his team within shouting distance. Islanders had the edge in shots 11-6.
For the first half of the second period the Islanders held the Flyers without a shot on net while they continued to put pressure on Mason. Former Islander Mark Streit went off the ice on a delay of game penalty. On the ensuing power play the Islanders spent a lot of time in the Flyers zone but never had a good look at the net. Even though they could not convert, you could sense that they were just being patient and waiting for their opportunity to cash in. However, the Flyers would be the ones to cash in to get a 2-0 lead. Just past the halfway point of the period, Thomas Hickey could not keep the puck in at Flyers line. That created a two on one which ended up with Chris VandeVelde beating Halak with a wrister.
The Islanders were down by a deuce and it was not looking good. Then injuries started to mount. It felt like it just was not the Islanders night. Matt Martin returned to the game wearing a full face shield to protect the nose he broke during his fight in the first period. Then later in the period Johnny Boychuk took what seemed to be a harmless wrist shot in the back of the knee and he went down immediately in pain. It looked like he twisted his knee as he fell. Boychuk had to be helped off the ice as he could not put any weight on his leg. If that was not enough, Halak took a shot which caught him on the neck. Fortunately, he was able to shake it off and stay in the game. The Islanders did not look like the team that had become division leaders. They started to look more like last year's team.
All of that seemed to spur on the Islanders however. Mikhail Grabovski, who had been flying around the entire evening and by far the best player on the ice, finally got the Islanders on the board with an unassisted goal with less than four minutes to go in the period. It was his 8th goal of the year and cut the lead in half. That would have been good enough, but the Islanders did one better. Just two minutes later Brock Nelson tossed one on net and Cal Clutterbuck banged in rebound to tie the game at two apiece. It was Clutterbuck's 5th goal of the year from Nelson and Hickey. Right after the goal, the newly minted Assistant Captain skated down to Halak and tapped him on the pads. It was as if he was saying “Don't worry we got the two goals back.” Somehow the Islanders had overcome adversity and got back into the game.
The momentum carried over to the third period as the Islanders finally started to look like themselves again. It was as if they sleep walked through the first half of the game and finally woke up. They started to push the play. The good news was that Boychuk came back out to the ice and seemed to be ok. Even better news was that the Islanders killed off a power play to keep the game even. As the period wore on the Islanders seemed to get their swagger back and played solid defense while generated good scoring chances. The game eventually went to overtime which meant that the Islanders got a well deserved point on the road. The Islanders out shot the Flyers for the game 30-18.
In the overtime both teams had chances, but a mistake by John Tavares almost cost his team the game. The Captain gave away the puck at his own blue line and Couturier walked in all alone on Halak, but Jaro made a huge save to keep the alive. The game was settled in the skills competition. The Islanders started off with Frans Nielsen's Danish Backhand of Judgement to take the early lead. The Flyers countered by tying things up on their final chance. But Cal Clutterbuck came through again in the 8th round by getting the game winner as Halak closed the door with a final save.
The Islanders moved back into first place in the Metropolitan Division at 33-17-1 which was good for 67 points. It was a huge character win. If the Islanders can get a good effort and beat the Bruins on Saturday they could possibly sweep the trip in Buffalo before going home for a while. It might be the boost they need to get back to where they were a couple of weeks ago.
This was a very gritty win by the Islanders. It really showed their resolve. They were down 2-0 in the middle period. Martin broke his nose, Boychuk seemed to be badly injured, Halak took a shot near his head and they were coming off of a three game losing streak. Somehow they figured out a way to get the job done. Desperate times mean desperate measures. The Flyers never had a chance, especially with the Dads in the house.
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