It is a testament to John Tavares’ skill that he was nominated yesterday as one of the three finalists for the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s Most Valuable Player. Yet it is a testament to his will that his Islanders team is where it is right now, giving the top-seeded Penguins a run for their money in this first-round playoff matchup.
Going into tonight’s Game 6 at the Coliseum, Tavares and his upstart group are on the verge of elimination, down in the best-of-seven contest, 3-2. But very few people expected them to even get this far, and the Islanders feel in the face of great adversity is when they play their best.
“I think we’ve done a good job bouncing back all year, and this series as well,” Tavares said at yesterday’s optional practice at the Coliseum. “I have no doubt we’ll be ready to play [tonight] in front of our fans in what will be a great crowd.”
In mid-March, the Islanders were teetering the brink of a playoff-less spring, what would have been the seventh straight season without a postseason on Long Island. Instead, the team went on a tear, going 11-1-2 in a stretch when Tavares had eight goals and 12 points, always fighting through the other team’s top defensemen in the process.
The run got the Islanders into the postseason, and Tavares then delivered the team’s first home playoff win in 11 years by scoring the game-winner in Tuesday’s 6-4 Game 4 victory, a win that tied the series 2-2.
“Let’s face it, if John Tavares didn’t have the season he had, we’re probably not in the position that we’re in,” coach Jack Capuano said. “He did a lot for our team, and he’s going to get some consideration [to win the Hart Trophy].”
Tonight’s game might have a different tone, as well, if things had gone slightly different in Game 5 on Thursday in Pittsburgh. Midway through the second period, the Penguins were leading 2-0 and holding the momentum. That’s when Tavares undressed defenseman Paul Martin and tore off a quick snap shot from the left circle, only to find the shoulder of backup goalie Tomas Vokoun.
“I think that save [Vokoun] made on Tavares was a huge, huge save for us,” Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said after the game his team won, 4-0.
For all of Tavares’ skill, he was overshadowed soon thereafter by one of the other Hart finalists, the indelible Sidney Crosby, who split two Islanders defensemen and made a fancy play of his own to beat Evgeni Nabokov and give the Penguins a decisive 3-0 lead.
The third MVP finalist is the Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin, who has won the award twice.
“I was a little shocked, a lot of emotion,” Tavares said about hearing the news from assistant coach (and former landlord) Doug Weight. “It’s a tremendous honor to be recognized, especially with those two. They are great players.”
Since the Islanders’ inception in 1972, they have had just one Hart Trophy winner, Bryan Trottier in 1978-79. They also haven’t won a playoff series since 1993, both sources of torment for a beleaguered fan base that will watch its team leave Long Island for their shiny new digs in Brooklyn starting in 2015.
But for now, they have Tavares, and with him comes at least a prayer for something lasting.
“It means a lot to the franchise,” Capuano said. “You see what he does on the ice, but he does so much more.”
— Additional reporting
by Zach Braziller.