Islanders finally hold late lead in rout of Blue Jackets
It should not be any particular mark of success to hold a third-period lead at home against a last-place team.
But for the Islanders, it is a reason to let out a deep breath in relief.
Finally, they found the 60-minute game they have so often lacked this season and played their best hockey in the third period, taking a two-goal lead Thursday against the Blue Jackets and turning it into a 7-3 win, their third in four games.
We know exactly what has been said about us, about blowing leads and whatnot, Mat Barzal said following a two-goal, four-point performance. So were trying to just prove people wrong. Thats not who we are.
Given the narrative thread around this team, it almost feels like a typo to note that they now have points in 10 of their last 11 games.
But so many of those have been overtime losses in which they led going into the third period that it has been hard to judge the last few weeks a success.
Thursday looked like it was headed towards the same old disaster early in the third.
3Scott Mayfield (left) and Alexander Romanov celebrate with goalie Ilya Sorokin after the Islanders’ 7-3 blowout win over the Blue Jackets. Getty ImagesAdam Fantilli scored for the Blue Jackets just 88 seconds into the period, depositing a loose puck into the back of the net after Scott Mayfield couldnt get a stick on it in the low slot.
That cut the lead to 4-3 and felt like it could be the beginning of the end for the Islanders hopes of getting two points.
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But instead of folding, and instead of sitting back in their own zone to invite pressure, the Islanders kept getting up the ice.
And at 5:33 of the period, Barzal banged in Bo Horvats feed to the slot for his second goal of the night, getting the lead back to two goals.
And when Horvat recovered his own rebound and backhanded it into the net with 8:29 to go in the game to make it 6-3, finally there was some confidence emanating from the stands at UBS Arena.
Then Horvat went and scored again 20 seconds later to make it 7-3.
Surely the Islanders would not blow this game.
Surely the Islanders did not blow this game.
I think we did a good job of sticking with our game, Horvat said. We didnt have any panic. A lot of people, after the last game, you would think that it might be in the back of our minds, but I think just learning from it. I dont think there was any doubt tonight. We just went out there and showed that.
The nights decisive points came in what was shaping up to be the worst period of the evening for the Islanders.
3Bo Horvat celebrates after scoring the first of his two third-period goals in the Islanders’ victory. Getty ImagesThey were booed throughout a second period that the Blue Jackets were dominating, with Emil Bemstrom and Fantilli scoring a pair of goals to put Columbus into a 2-1 lead.
The Fire Lambert chants directed at coach Lane Lambert that appeared a few weeks ago even made a brief comeback.
And things turned on a dime, as Cal Clutterbuck got free in the slot and banged in Hudson Faschings feed to tie the game at two with 5:30 to go in the second.
That opened the floodgates for the Islanders, and before the period was out, Barzal and Kyle Palmieri had added a pair of goals.
3Mathew Barzal celebrates with teammates after scoring a third-perid goal, his second of the game, during the Islanders’ win. Getty ImagesFans were getting on us a little bit and the goals kind of alleviated it there, Palmieri said. It was big.
The real test, though, was always going to come in the third.
That is when the Islanders have been nothing short of disastrous all year and it is when they let a 4-1 lead slip into a 5-4 overtime loss against the Sharks just two nights prior.
Anything short of locking things down would have prompted the same cycle of self-doubt that has plagued the Islanders all year.
This time, they didnt just avoid doing the same thing. They did the opposite.
I cant really explain what happened in a lot of those games where we blew leads, Barzal said. I feel like tonight was another step in the right direction to being a solid third-period team for the rest of the way.
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