Andrew Gross: Islanders get revenge over Stars by beating them
Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin makes a save during the second period against Mavrik Bourque of the Dallas Stars at UBS Arena on Thursday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
This is what the Islanders must be to survive a multi-team dogfight for a playoff spot.
Focused and strong on fundamentals. For 60 minutes. With a brilliant Ilya Sorokin in net to backstop an effective penalty kill.
In other words, Thursday night’s 2-1 win over the Stars at UBS Arena was, in many ways, the opposite of a 4-3 home loss to Chicago two nights earlier that still could negatively impact their postseason chances.
“I think we were just good in all areas of the game,” defenseman Matthew Schaefer said. “We came out at the start flying and we kept that the whole way through. I think we were missing that a little bit where we started off strong and they got a couple of bounces and we laid off the gas and then we were chasing the game.”
Tuesday certainly seemed like a lesson learned for the Islanders (41-27-5), who moved back into the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot with the Penguins beating the Senators in a shootout. The Islanders took an early lead both against the Stars and Chicago. On Thursday, the Islanders ultimately built on that lead. Against Chicago, they ceded three first-period goals.
Also take, for instance, Mathew Barzal. His blue-line turnover and failure to hustle on the backcheck led to Chicago’s first goal. In the first period on Thursday, Barzal effectively got back into position in the defensive zone after a similar up-ice turnover.
“I need to get back harder,” Barzal said before Thursday’s game about his lackadaisical play on Tuesday. “I look back and see a 2-on-0 and I took my foot off the gas. Just a mental lapse. This time of the year, that can’t happen. That goal probably gets prevented if I’m back. That’s on me 99%. If we didn’t make mistakes all year, we’d have 150 points.”
He, of course, was being facetious. Hockey is a game of mistakes.
The two points are earned in limiting them. And learning from them.
“We did a lot of good things,” said defenseman Ryan Pulock, whose return to the lineup after missing two games with a lower-body injury cannot be overlooked in assessing the Islanders’ defensive cohesion, especially with Tony DeAngelo now out one to two weeks with a lower-body issue suffered on Tuesday. “When we had the lead, we played the right way.”
“I don’t really look back,” coach Patrick Roy said. “Do we learn from some? Yeah, I’m sure we do. But it was behind us. It was hard to sleep, I will admit. It was pretty quiet in my car going home that night. The midnight rule and then you refocus. There’s no need to spend so much time on the loss. If you carry that game into your next game, I don’t know if there’s some benefit out of this.”
Speaking of not looking back, it probably was best for all parties that Mikko Rantanen remained out of the Stars’ lineup with a lower-body injury even if his expected return is imminent. Thursday’s game was simply too important for the Islanders to have turned it into a revenge mission.
But that doesn’t mean the Islanders have forgotten or forgiven Rantanen for ending defenseman Alexander Romanov’s season in the last minute of the Islanders’ 3-2 win in Dallas on Nov. 18. Nor should they.
Perhaps it was just coincidence that Romanov, who required surgery on his right shoulder to repair his labrum, rejoined his teammates on the ice for the first time during Thursday’s morning skate wearing an orange non-contact jersey and with Roy repeating that he will not be able to return to the lineup until the playoffs, provided the Islanders make it.
Or maybe it was a motivational tool.
“It’s an unfortunate play,” defenseman Scott Mayfield said. “It was a long time ago. It’s just rough that we lost one of our top players for a really good chunk of the season. But right now, it’s all about two points. It’s all about getting wins.”
OK, but follow-up question: Is there any disappointment that Rantanen was not in the Stars’ lineup on Thursday?
“Um, I got no comment on that one,” Mayfield said with a bit of a smirk. “It is what it is.”
It is what it is could sum up the Islanders’ loss to Chicago.
But the Islanders clearly cleaned up the needed aspects of their game against the Stars.
And this game set a bar for how they need to perform in their remaining nine games.
But the Islanders haven’t forgotten. Or forgiven.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
