If the Islanders are growing and maturing as a team, if their ability to stay engaged in a game not going their way and keep an emotional even keel, if they have any chance of keeping within sniffing distance of the playoffs, they need to steal points like they did last night at the Coliseum.
Against a fast and skilled Blackhawks team, the Islanders fell 3-2 in overtime on a rebound goal from Patrick Sharp, his second of the night. The Islanders rallied from a two-goal deficit in the second period to tie it 2-2 and take it to overtime.
“We seem to grow every single game,” said Al Montoya, who was solid in his seventh straight game (six starts), making 25 saves. “We’re battling and we want to stay in this hunt as long as possible. To come away with the one point — we want the two — but the one is huge.”
The Islanders have now collected at least one point in each of the past six games (4-0-2), the two overtime losses both coming to the Blackhawks. Their 24 points (9-11-6) put them five points out of the playoffs, with five teams to leapfrog.
But the thought of the postseason is still far off, with many hurdles between now and then — especially if they keep getting sucked into stints of playing pond-hockey, forgoing the mantra of a simple, hard game like they did for most of the first period.
“We got away from forechecking hard and tried to play skill-for-skill with them,” said P.A. Parenteau, who got his 18th assist on Travis Hamonic’s first goal of the season, cutting the lead to 2-1 18:21 into the second. “They’re a little deeper than us when it comes to skill and I think that’s why we got behind the eight-ball in the first period.”
Behind a banked-in power play goal from Marian Hossa to open the scoring in the first and a wicked one-timer from Sharp, the Blackhawks were staked to a 2-0 lead. As a result of picking up the intensity, much to the enjoyment of the 10,711 in attendance, Michael Grabner ended up scoring his eighth goal of the season 10:52 into the third to tie the game.
“We’ve played a lot of hockey and I think at times we looked fatigued,” said head coach Jack Capuano, whose team couldn’t convert on a crucial 5-on-3 that spanned the end of the second and beginning of the third. “I think we came back and played a solid game and I’m not disappointed. We keep getting points and that’s what we need to do.”