Isles blow lead, win streak & momentum
The scenario was ideal, a situation too perfect to expect it would actually happen.
John Tavares had the puck on his stick and only one player stood between the superstar sending the Islanders to the locker room with their season-best fourth straight win of the season.
Barclays Center was ready for another celebration.
“I had chances to end it,” Tavares said. “Just couldn’t find a way to put it in.”
The Islanders had more chances to win than they deserved Sunday night — including Tavares’ breakaway, stopped by Philadelphia’s Steve Mason midway through overtime — but the chance to grab another two points was stolen when Claude Giroux completed the Flyers’ comeback from a two-goal deficit with the game-winner with 1:40 left in the extra session for a 3-2 Philadelphia victory.
Any momentum from the Islanders’ (19-17-9) previous three wins faded once they took the ice against the desperate, struggling Flyers (23-19-6), who treated the surging home team like an opponent that could no longer be taken lightly.
“We looked a little tired,” interim coach Doug Weight said. “We just didn’t have the same jump. ... We gotta drive the bus. We gotta get in. ... You have to be quick, physical, jumping on pucks. ... We [didn’t do it] in the first 10 minutes and it kind of set the precedent.”
For the first six-plus minutes of the game, the Islanders didn’t register a shot on goal, and were outshot 34-21 through two periods.
“We just seemed sluggish and execution wasn’t as good as the last couple games,” Tavares said. “The first two periods weren’t great.” But that was irrelevant. Despite being consistently stuck in their own zone, Tavares got the crowd involved after swiping the puck from Andrew MacDonald. Though Tavares was stopped, and Josh Bailey was unsuccessful on his rebound attempt, Nick Leddy finished the job with his eighth goal of the season, with 6:35 left in the first period.
After being outshot 8-1 to open the second period, the Islanders capitalized on another stray chance, with Alan Quine benefiting from the kind of bounce that hasn’t gone the team’s way the most of the season, burying his fourth goal of the year to put the Islanders up 2-0 with 15:13 left in the second period.
Coming off back-to-back shutouts, Thomas Greiss (44 saves) looked unbeatable again, making any lead feel safe.
Greiss’ shutout streak was snapped at 154:10, following an Islanders turnover and Wayne Simmonds wrist shot with 5:50 left in the second period. Philly’s Ivan Provorov then tied the game just 1:47 into the third period.
The Islanders had numerous chances to retake the lead, but Anders Lee was stopped on a breakaway one night after scoring two goals. Johnny Boychuk’s slap shot slid into the post. Ryan Strome’s potential powerplay goal was blocked by Philly defenseman Radko Gudas on an empty net.
Easily, the Islanders could have had another win. Just as easily, they could have come away with nothing.
“I thought they battled. Sometimes you’re battling your own demons,” Weight said. “Whether it’s tired or what the other team is doing, it’s gonna be tough sledding out there. ... Some games you don’t have it as much as others, but they’re competing.”