Good Morning, Islanders Country.
It’s a shame that Justin Bieber and more of the national hockey media didn’t stick around to see the Isles’ sweep the Maple Leafs for the first time in 34 years.
We know the Islanders have been buying into Patrick Roy and believe they’ve been playing better hockey, but at some point, you need to be rewarded for that belief to lead to the type of momentum that can propel you to sustained success.
“What I love the most is they score that power-play goal to tie the game and our mindset was, ‘let's go get the next one,’. That pleased me a lot. To see our guys stay in the present moment and be able to not change our game because we gave up a goal.” - Patrick Roy
Last night’s game vs. Toronto was in danger of following the familiar script of the season, with Isles allowing a later third-period power-play goal. But in maybe a sign that things are destined to be different, the Isles recovered when Pierre Engvall scored late in the third against his former team.
With the regulation win, the Islanders improved to 16-1-5 when leading after two periods. It was their first time taking a lead into the third under Roy.
They still haven’t figured out how to make it easy on themselves with time running down and remain without an empty net goal, but Ilya Sorokin was super down the stretch with 35 saves in another positive sign of what may lie ahead.
The blueline was as healthy as it’s been all season, and with the defensive pairs balanced all night, Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock looked rock-solid in their returns to the lineup. There was plenty to feel good about.
A team effort. A team win. A team is taking steps in the right direction for what will be an uphill climb to make the postseason.
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