Kyle Okposo had last scored a goal on Nov. 14, which was 19 games ago. The assist, best anyone around the Islanders can remember, was by Anders Kallur, the coach was Terry Simpson and the Islanders were a tough ticket.
“What’s he going to do, go home?” kidded coach Scott Gordon, but a player going through bad times doesn’t have to pack up to pack it in, particularly a third-year pro, particularly on a misbegotten franchise that may take its toys to a home in Kansas City if the owner doesn’t get a new arena plus a small city around it.
Almost as long as Charles Wang’s siege of Nassau County and Hempstead has been Kyle Okposo’s for a goal, but it hadn’t produced a correspondingly long face.
“I don’t think I have been playing poorly at all,” Okposo said. “It’s been difficult when we lose or I miss a good chance, but you have to know it’s going to come.”
Last night at the Garden, he put the waiting time to constructive use, whipping a pass by Wade Redden through the slot for a first-period deposit by Frans Nielsen, then spinning past Michael Del Zotto, then Ales Kotalik, to feed Blake Comeau to build the lead to 2-0.
In overtime, Okposo gained the Rangers zone, curled up at the halfboards, dropped the puck to Nielsen and then one-timed the return feed off Marc Staal, the post, and by Henrik Lundqvist.
The Islanders weathered two Brandon Dubinsky third-period goals, the second with 47 seconds to go, and won 3-2. John Tavares, the franchise savior, didn’t do much, but Okposo, not exactly a sleeper at No. 7 overall in 2006, was the best player on the ice, not a bad sign for the Islanders’ rebuilding efforts, however perpetual they have seemed.
“That [second goal] was just battle,” Gordon said. “Anyone who is an Islander fan knows about that and [Okposo] does it in all situations.”
If the Islanders had an Okposo for every situation, they would be on their way to more than just their accustomed spot in the lottery. From 1995 through 2000, they had seven top-five picks and still managed to earn the first pick in 2009, but what are they going to do, go home? Okposo won’t let them.
“Kyle’s not going to cut corners,” Gordon said. “And at the end of the day, he’s making the [power-play] passes to John.”
Eight of Tavares’ 16 goals have been on the power play, necessitating a coach-to-franchise-player talk before the Islanders won for the first time in four Wednesday against Toronto.
“From point A to point B am I going to go as hard as I can to make an [opposition] player play make a play he doesn’t want to make?” Gordon asked. “Those types of situations John was getting away from.”
Okposo last night went from Point A to Point B even faster than Mike Milbury could make a bad trade. Played with a nose harder than an Islander fan’s skin after hanging in there for all these years with few rewards like last night’s.
“I said to Kyle if we had known that we could have them come back on us to give him a goal in overtime, it would make it worthwhile,” Gordon said.
Hard work inevitably pays off. Okposo, painstaking painting a rainbow, found his pot of gold. With a few more of him, so finally may a beleaguered franchise.