It will take many more of these before the demon is banished, but this is at least a start.
That demon, of course, is the Islanders’ penchant for letting wins turn into losses, for watching as third-period leads turn into little more than moral victories.
But Thursday night at a sparsely populated Coliseum, the Islanders managed to put one away, a 3-2 victory over the inexperienced Oilers that was a singular step in the process of burying an awful reputation.
“I don’t use the word ‘protect’ because we’re not trying to protect in the way we want to play,” said coach Jack Capuano, whose team went to 3-2-2 by going into the third period with one-goal lead and keeping it that way by continuing to attack, notching 15 third-period shots. “Our system is play on our toes, and continue to play on our toes.
“To me, we played just as good in the third against Buffalo as we played tonight.”
Buffalo was just two days earlier, when the inept Sabres came into the Coliseum and got completely outworked — and walked out with a 4-3 shootout win. On Saturday in Nashville, the Islanders had a 2-1 lead over the Predators and dropped that game, 3-2. The night before that, the Islanders could hardly muster any offense and lost to the Blackhawks, 3-2.
So this one was more than just a win over a 1-6-1 Oilers team that is as porous as it is young and fast. The 40 shots the Islanders peppered goalie Devan Dubnyk with seemed to be short for the number of chances they had. It was the second straight game the Islanders had 40-plus shots, after registering 19 and 16 in Chicago and Nashville, respectively.
“It was obviously talked about in here the last few days, and we stayed aggressive,” said captain John Tavares, who scored the game-winner, his fourth goal of the season, with just under two minutes remaining in the second period, also adding an assist on Kyle Okposo’s power-play tally earlier in the period which tied it, 2-2. “Good to see us come away with a pretty complete game in the way we need to play, how hard we need to play.”
Things always weren’t looking so good. Late in the first period, Taylor Hall scored two goals in 8 seconds to give the Oilers a 2-1 lead, negating Josh Bailey’s game-opening score. Hall set an Oilers’ record for two goals in the shortest period of time, beating Wayne Gretzky’s existing mark of 9 seconds.
After Okposo tied it up 4:54 into the second, the Islanders then took three consecutive penalties. During the man-down time, they got outstanding play from goalie Evgeni Nabokov, who made 14 saves in the period and 27 overall in his sixth start of the first seven games.
“To gain that confidence, you have to hold on to some leads and get some wins,” said Bailey, now with three goals on the year. “I think tonight was a good step in the right direction.”
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Rookie defenseman Matt Donovan rejoined the lineup after being a healthy scratch for the past two games, replacing hulking blueliner Matt Carkner.
Forward Colin McDonald also returned after missing Tuesday’s game with a left-hip injury. He replaced Eric Boulton in the lineup, while rookie winger Brock Nelson remained a scratch for the second straight game, his third of the past four.