The Islanders had seen a three-goal lead evaporate in the third period for the second straight game, but unlike in Saturday’s loss to Montreal, they found a way to recover and win – twice.
Chris Campoli scored the game-winner 3:13 into overtime, but the puck bounced through the net and wasn’t initially ruled a goal. And although Campoli threw his arms up to celebrate, play continued.
Seconds later, the puck wound up on his stick again and this time, the defenseman left no doubt, hitting the back of the net. As it turned out, the initial goal would have counted. Either way, the Isles escaped with a 4-3 win over the Blue Jackets at Nassau Coliseum.
“I’ve never seen that before,” said Campoli, who also scored in regulation. “I’ll take it.”
So will the rest of the team, which entered last night’s match having lost six in a row. After building a 3-0 lead with three goals in the second period, Joey MacDonald let three Columbus goals slip behind him by the 11:02 mark of the third.
“The mood on the bench was different,” coach Scott Gordon said after the win, comparing it to Saturday’s debacle. “Almost like we’ve been through this before.”
Rather than collapsing, this time the Isles played well in the latter stages of the third and in overtime.
“You talk about moving in the right direction, but you still gotta get results,” said Gordon, whose team had won just two of its first 10 matches. “For us, it’s been slow.”
It would have been even more difficult facing the Rangers tonight on the road.
“We didn’t want to go into the Garden losing seven in a row,” said Campoli, who also had a short-handed goal. “Now [the losing streak] is over.”
The Islanders will soon find out how much this victory means. They were certainly getting tired of losing, whether it be games or key players to injury.
“Right now, this team is trying to find its identity,” Campoli said. “We’ve found a way to play teams hard, but we couldn’t finish them off. Maybe this will help turn things around, but we’ve got to prevent this [blown lead] from happening in the first place.”
At least they found a way to come away with a victory last night, even if it did take two game-winners to do it.
OVERTIME Isles 4 Jackets 3