Islanders battle for badly needed win over Maple Leafs with new mindset
TORONTO If the Islanders are going to put together a run over the next nine weeks to get into the playoffs, Monday was a pretty good start.
Patrick Roy has said its playoff hockey from here on out for the Islanders and it certainly looked that way in a 3-2 win over the Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena, with the Isles sealing a sweep in the season series and gaining two vital points on a wild-card rival on the back of Pierre Engvalls game-winner late in regulation.
What I love the most, Roy said, is that Toronto scored that power-play goal to tie the game. And our mindset was: Lets go get the next one. To see our guys stay in the present moment and be able to not change our game because we gave up a goal.
Indeed, when Oliver Wahlstrom was whistled for interference with 5:40 to go in the game with the Islanders hanging onto a 2-1 lead, it looked like a very familiar script was playing out.
And John Tavares deflecting in Morgan Riellys shot from the right point to tie the game on the ensuing power play was, undoubtedly, the sort of thing that would have put the Islanders into a death spiral at various points this season.
Kyle MacLean scores during the Islanders’ win over the Maple Leafs on Feb. 5, 2024. USA TODAY Sports But not on this night.
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Patrick Roy had to go home to Quebec and change his stance to become the hope for the Islanders
Instead, the Islanders flipped the script right back around with Engvall in his first game back in Toronto since the Maple Leafs dealt him to the Island just over 11 months ago scoring his first goal in 19 games, getting on the end of Brock Nelsons rebound with 2:02 to go.
For a player whose season has not gone according to plan, and for a team whose season has not gone according to plan, that goal was very much necessary.
And both Engvall and the Islanders will hope it can help get things back on track.
I havent played my best lately, Engvall said after the fact. I want to play better. So it felt good tonight. I think we worked really hard as a line.
Thanks in large part to their effort, the Islanders now sit four points back of Toronto and Detroit in the wild-card race and just two points behind the Flyers for third in the Metropolitan Division. The race, in other words, is on.
Just as important, the adjustment to Roys system appears to be going swimmingly.
After a week off, the Islanders returned to put in a clean performance on the road, generating offense from the cycle and holding the puck for long periods of time against a high-powered Leafs squad.
It was how they defended when the Maple Leafs did the same, though, that was especially notable.
For much of the season when the ice has been tilted against them, the Islanders have settled to chip-and-change, playing to see another day and giving up the puck.
Here, they looked for chances to attack and rarely iced the puck even when the Maple Leafs were firing shot after shot.
Ilya Sorokin scores during the Islanders’ win over the Maple Leafs on Feb. 5, 2024. Getty ImagesSo, too, did the excellent play of Ilya Sorokin, who finished the night with 35 saves and a victory that he very much earned.
A lot of moments today, Sorokin said, referencing an Auston Matthews chance early in the third that rung off the post and crossbar before bouncing out of the crease. But luck was on our side tonight. It was good.
A major boost also came in the form of Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock returning to the lineup and playing together on the second pair, marking the first time the Islanders have had a healthy defense corps start a game since Nov. 24 in Ottawa, when Pelech and Sebastian Aho went down early in the night.
On the ice from Long Island
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Check out more newslettersCombined with two points in the standings, it made for a night when everything seemed to fall into place for a team that has rarely seen that happen this season.
Even Kyle MacLean got in on the act with his first NHL point a second-period goal after Cal Clutterbuck sprung him on a breakaway. It came after the rookie exited the penalty box and featured a silky backhand finish.
We know were gonna have to put some points together here to get in the playoffs, Pulock said. Tonight was the first step of doing that. I thought, considering the break and some of the rust, we did a pretty good job of being sharp.
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