Good Morning, Islanders Country.
The first two periods were so fun it even made an ESPN broadcast featuring Mark Messier enjoyable to watch.
The Islanders’ six goals were scored by six different players in a balanced, full team effort. Mathew Barzal showed off a filthy backhand, Ryan Pulock blasted a slap shot, and Casey Cizikas scored in his return.
“Tonight was a night where it was easy to coach in a way, head coach Patick Roy said after the game. “Everybody was playing well against everybody.”
A day after Roy talked about defensive structure, the Isles exploded offensively and throttled the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-2. Sure, the Bolts played the night prior and were starting a backup goaltender, but that’s been the blueprint for success against the Isles this season. Tampa may not be the team of the past, they’re still a marquee team to beat and one the Isles are in striking distance of catching.
It’s only been six games, but under Roy, the Islanders have a different look and, more importantly, a different feel. The training camp like practices, film sessions, and micro-stat points of emphasis have re-energized a team operating with a different mindset and operating at full-strenth.
What started with belief and was followed by confidence, is now being rewarded with wins and some much-needed momentum. This team has some juice. All the ingredients necessary to catch lightning in a bottle and go on a run.
Let’s dive in.
🏒 IN SHORT: Noah Dobson, Mathew Barzal, and Kyle Palmieri scored first-period goals as the Islanders pulled away to a 6-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning at UBS Arena on Thursday night. Bo Horvat scored his 21st of the season to tie Brock Nelson for the team lead and Casey Cizikas scored in his first game after missing the previous ten. Ilya Sorokin made 17 saves for the Isles (22-17-12) in the win. Nikita Kucherov and Brandon Hagel scored for the Lightning (27-20-5), while Jonas Johansson made 18 saves.
KEY MOMENT(s):
🔷 Mathew Barzal showed off another part of his arsenal, roofing a backhand off the post and in to give the Islanders a 2-1 lead at 14:07 of the first period.
🔶 After Tapma pulled within one, Pierre Engvall won a face-off clean back to Ryan Pulock, who blasted a slap shot past Johansson's glove at 7:10 of the second period for a power play goal to regain a two-goal lead.
“It was a critical point of the game,” Pulock said. “Engvall comes in and wins a big draw, I was able to get some space in the middle and take a shot.”
3 REACTIONS
❶ SO MUCH DEPTH: “We have so much depth. We have four very good centermen, four good lines. Three pairs of six good defensemen and good goaltending. That’s depth,” Patrick Roy said. “We’re starting to look like a team that works together, and that makes me happy.”
❷ ALL BUSINESS: “Right after [Monday’s] game, it was about enjoying it for the next one, it’s all business for the next game,” Mat Barzal said. “We know where we are in the standings, we have to get some wins together to get into the playoffs.”
❸ LIMITING CHANCES: “[The Lightning] are a high offensive team and they’ve got a lot of scoring power up front,” Casey Cizikas said. “We did a good job of containing that and limiting their chances. I thought our defenseman did a good job of closing gaps and shutting them down.”
GAME IMPACT SCORE
⏭ NEXT UP: The Islanders continue their homestand in a Saturday matinee against the Calgary Flames. Face-off is set for 1:00 PM EST.
📊 STANDINGS:
📰 NEWS: The Islanders were back at full strength for the time since Nov. 24 with the return of Casey Cizikas to the lineup after the center missed the last ten games with a lower-body injury. Cizikas looked as if he didn’t miss a beat playing alongside his familiar linemates and scored the team’s sixth goal of the game.
“I was so happy to be back. It’s so tough watching your guys battle every night, you want to be a part of that so bad,” Cizikas said. “It pushed me harder to get back in, and the guys made it easy for me. It was a great team effort.”
H100LMSTROM
For NewYorkIslanders.com, Rachel Luscher writes about Simon Holmstrom’s path to 100 NHL games, from his arrival in Bridgeport and learning English to his living with Grant Hutton and his family background.
The in-depth feature also takes a look at Holmstrom’s uniquely long hockey stick and his prowess of scoring short-handed goals.
“I’ve always used a long stick; I feel comfortable in my stick handling personally,” Holmstrom said. “I really like it, there’s some extra stuff you can do when you have a long stick. Without the puck, it’s easier to reach.”
Time Change
The NHL announced on Thursday afternoon the following updates to the 2023-24 regular-season schedule, which affects two Islanders games. The game on March 5 vs St. Louis will be available exclusively on ESPN+/HULU (previously on MSGSN). Puck drop remains at 7:30 p.m. at UBS Arena. The game on March 14 at Buffalo is now at 7 p.m. (previously 7:30 p.m.)
📚 SOUND SMART: Per Eric Hornick in The Skinny, The Isles scored at least three goals in each of the first two periods for the first time since an 8-1 win over Edmonton on Super Bowl Sunday 2016 (Feb 7, 2016, at Barclays Center). It was the ffifth time they’ve done so in 20 years. The other dates were. Dec. 29, 2015, Feb. 11, 2011 and March 7, 2009.
Per NHL PR, with a goal and an assists, Mathew Barzal (1-1—2) became the 16th player in Islanders history with 100 career multi-point games.
🎥 ISLES REWIND: On Feb. 9th, 2018, the Islanders rallied to stun the Detroit Red Wings 7-6 in overtime on owner Jon Ledecky’s birthday. “The Skinny” from that night was jam-packed. The Islanders scored four power-play goals in a span of 3:37 following a match penalty assessed to Detroit's Tyler Bertuzzi.
It was the first time in Islander history that they had scored four power-play goals in a period. Nelson had two goals in the third period and then capped his second career hat trick with the overtime winner. Mathew Barzal assisted on the winning goal as he re-wrote the NHL record, becoming the first rookie in 100 years to record three 5-point games (Joe Malone in 1917-18) and the first rookie in NHL history to record two 5-assist games.
🎧 The Red Line: A Shot in the Arm “In the latest episode of “The Red Line,” co-hosts Phil Farber (@PhilzFacts) and David Tuchman (@TuckOnSports) got together as Phil returned from Cancun just to record a podcast with Tuch. The boys discuss the defense being healthy for the first time and the team’s optimum lineup moving forward. Patrick Roy is willing to give Wahlstrom a legit chance to become an everyday player, structural changes that Roy has already made, Barzal unleashed under Roy, and we ended off by looking at the current playoff picture and the betting odds for each team.”
🔗 Oliver Wahlstrom getting a different Islanders chance under Patrick Roy by Ethan Sears, New York Post “The last two Islanders coaches have tried a short-leash approach with Oliver Wahlstrom. At worst, the results have been bad. At best, they have been mixed, with a serious knee injury in December 2022 muddying the picture.”
🔗 For Islanders, coping with injuries is just part of the game by Andrew Gross, Newsday “The Islanders have dealt with numerous injuries this season — 128 man-games lost and counting — but were, finally, mostly healthy for Thursday night’s match against the Lightning at UBS Arena. Casey Cizikas was activated off long-term injured reserve after missing 10 games with a lower-body injury so the lineup was essentially full of regulars for the first time since Nov. 24.”
And we leave you with this ….Bobby Nystrom handed out Stadium Series “ISLES” sweaters to The Michael Kay Show during their live show at UBS Arena.
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