Good Morning, Islanders Country.
We always knew last night’s game was going to be tricky.
Montreal has been playing good hockey, and there always seems to be a natural letdown following an emotional win against the New York Rangers. Well, things went from tricky to downright scary at different points of the game, while scoreboard-watching provided mixed results that added to the drama.
The Isles lost Noah Dobson minutes into the game, allowed the game’s first goal, and then fell behind again in the third. Yet, as they did in recent games vs. Chicago and Columbus, the team kept their poise and maintained the pressure, outshooting Montreal 31 to 14 and recording 38 scoring chances to just 16.
They got even twice, played smart to secure a big point, and then earned the second on Kyle Palmieri’s perfectly placed wrist shot that tickled the twine for their sixth straight win. Here’s a fun fact; the Isles played Montreal three times this season and did not lead for one second before Palmieri’s O.T. game-winner!
The magic number to clinch the playoffs is down to three (four for third place in the Metro), meaning the Isles can punch their post-season ticket on Saturday with a point or points and some help. It would be a remarkable and pleasant surprise for the Isles not to need points in the final two games to secure a spot in the post-season, but there’s no reason for this season to start making sense now.
Let’s dive in.
🏒 IN SHORT: Kyle Palmieri had a goal for the fourth straight game, scoring at 1:17 of overtime to lift the New York Islanders to a 3-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens at UBS Arena on Thursday night for their sixth straight win. Pierre Engvall and Casey Cizikas also scored for the Islanders (37-27-15), who sit 3rd in the Metropolitan Division. Semyon Varlamov made only 12 saves but came up clutch in big spots throughout the game. Jordan Harris and Cole Caufield scored for the Canadiens (30-36-13), and Sam Montembeault made 31 saves in the loss.
KEY MOMENT(s):
🔷 Pierre Engvall tied the game at 1-1 at 5:17 of the second period, circling, finding space, and letting go a quick wrist shot for his 10th of the season.
🔶 After Montreal took a 2-1 lead a 3:42 of the third period, Casey Cizikas tied things back up less than three minutes later when he corralled Adam Pelech’s wide backhand and scored on a wraparound.
🔷 In overtime, Kyle Palmieri took a pass from Brock Nelson and made a perfect shot over the right shoulder of Montembeault for his fourth goal in as many games to give the Isles their first points versus Montreal this season.
3 REACTIONS
❶ HARD FOUGHT GAME: "It was a hard-fought game," Head Coach Patrick Roy said after the win. "One thing I'm proud of our guys, they compete. They were engaged and they wanted to win this game. It was nice to be rewarded with that goal in overtime."
❷ WE WERE HUNGRY: “He made that huge glove save at the end of the first period, that two-on-one that could’ve made it 2-0,” Casey Cizikas said. “It was a key save that kept us within one, and we came out in that second period flying, we were hungry.”
❸ ASSERTIVE ENGVALL: "It was one of the best games I've seen him play," Kyle Palmieri said of Pierre Engvall’s performance. "He was assertive, he used his body and used the speed. He was getting to the net. I think he has a special ability to beat guys and find open ice, it was a great game from him."
GAME IMPACT SCORE
⏭ NEXT UP: The Islanders’ have a magic number of three, meaning they can clinch a playoff berth on Saturday with a win against the New York Rangers and some help elsewhere. Face-off from MSG is set for 12:30 PM EDT.
📊 STANDINGS: The Pittsburgh Penguins blew a 5-3 lead but then beat the Detroit Red Wings 6-5 in overtime. The Philadelphia Flyers snapped an eight-game winless streak with a win at MSG versus the Rangers. Meanwhile, the Washington Capitals dropped out of a playoff spot after a 4-2 loss to Buffalo.
📰 NEWS: Defenseman Noah Dobson left early in the first period and did not return with what Patrick Roy described as an “upper-body injury.”
It wasn’t clear what happened to Dobson on his final shift of the game. The best guess is that Alexander Romanov’s stick swung around and hit the 24-year-old defenseman on the left hand/wrist.
The Isles struggled mightily on the power play without its quarterback, going 0-for-4, and had difficulty simply setting up with Sebastian Aho taking Dobson’s spot with the top power-play unit.
"He's obviously extremely important to this team," Adam Pelech said of Dobson. "He's been having a great year for us, so it's tough to lose him so early. But the whole team they really did a good job of picking up the slack."
Pageau takes on Gallagher
Last night was the first time the Isles saw Brendan Gallagher since his elbow shot on Adam Pelech in late January that resulted in a five-game suspension. Halfway through the second period, it was Jean-Gabriel Pageau who checked Gallagher hard into the boards and then jawed at him to drop the gloves.“It’s nothing personal…it just happened,” said Pageau when asked after the game.
“Pag is a character player. It was energy for our team, said head coach Patrick Roy in the post-game. “The guys are battling hard and play for each other. I really love how together we are right now.”
Magic Number Watch
Thanks to the social media account @IslesMagicNumber, which tracks the magic number to clinch a post-season berth from the very start of the season, we know that the Isles’ magic number is 3, meaning any combination of three points would put them in the playoffs for the fifth time in six seasons.
📚 SOUND SMART: Per Eric Hornick in The Skinny, following Thursday night’s win, the Isles are 124 games over all-time NHL-.500 for the first time since a loss to Detroit on February 27, 1996, dropped them to 865-741-266. The Isles have won six straight games for the second time this season. It is the first time since 1983-84 that they have had multiple six-game winning streaks in the same season.
🎥 ISLES REWIND: On April 12, 2019, Jordan Eberle and Josh Bailey scored less than four minutes apart in the third period as the Isles beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-1 for a 2-0 lead in their first-round playoff series. The Isles took the lead when Barzal sent the puck up to Eberle on the right side, and he skated across the front and sent a backhand in at 7:54 of the third for a 2-1 lead.
🎧 Double Chili Podcast w/ Peter Schwartz: Bob Bourne “Former Islanders forward Bob Bourne joins the "The Double Chili Islanders Podcast" with Peter Schwartz on the anniversary of the Islanders 1975 playoff victory over the Rangers. Peter and Bob also talk about his career with the Islanders and the current team.”
🔗 Islanders’ Adam Pelech, Noah Dobson dismiss Rangers’ ‘vicious’ hits claim by Ethan Sears, New York Post “I’ll just say it was completely unintentional and I hope Mika’s OK,” Pelech said. “I think if the camera showed me at all after the collision, you could tell that I felt sick about it ’cause he didn’t look good going down and getting up off the ice. So like I said, it was completely unintentional and I hope he was OK.”
🔗 Noah Dobson injury: Latest on Islanders star after early exit vs. Canadiens by Joe Pantorno, amNY “With no clear incident suggesting an injury was sustained, Dobson exited the game just 5:33 into the first period after checking Canadiens winger Cole Caufield in the corner of the Islanders’ zone. He did not return for the remainder of the game.”
And we leave you with this … a post-game party at UBS Arena
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