Satisfying win back on L.I.
The Islanders once again have a home-ice advantage.
In their return to the Coliseum to play their first meaningful game since the 2015-16 playoffs, the Islanders scored three unanswered goals and beat the Blue Jackets, 3-2, on Saturday night. The chants from the fans started in the parking lot in the morning and were still going strong inside the corridors almost an hour after the game ended.
“Look at how much fun they’re having,” coach Barry Trotz said. “Play with that atmosphere all year, that’s at least a dozen points.”
Having moved to Brooklyn’s Barclays Center for the start of the 2015-16 season, the Islanders struggled to establish an urban home identity. That’s because since the franchise’s inaugural season of 1972-73, they had played out on Long Island.
“To me, it’s more pride of The Island,” Trotz said. “I haven’t been in the New York area very long, but there are distinct separations. But this is Islander country, plain and simple.”
The fans were almost disappointed, with the very tough Blue Jackets (15-9-2) getting up 2-0 midway through the second period with goals from Markus Hannikainen and Pierre-Luc Dobois. But when Islanders captain Anders Lee was able to get one to go in off his arm at 11:59 of the second — and after it was declared a good goal following a lengthy official review — the 13,917 erupted in a cheer that was close to three years in the making.
“When you get one or two, and the crowd starts getting your back, that energy goes through everybody,” Lee said. “You see the momentum swing.”
The Islanders (13-9-3) hardly ever gave it up, either. Anthony Beauvillier finished an odd-man rush to tie it at 15:24 of the second, then the game-winner came from Casey Cizikas, lifting one over the terrific Sergei Bobrovsky at 7:09 of the third to make it 3-2.
The Islanders were then able to tie things down with some steady work from Thomas Greiss, who turned away all 16 shots he faced in the final 20 minutes, finishing with 28 saves.
“These points are as much ours as they are their’s,” Cizikas said of the fans. “We’re all a family here, and they’re part of that family. If it keeps going like this, it’s going to be a tough place to play.”
As for returning to Barclays Center for Tuesday’s matchup against the highpowered Jets, well, that’s going to be quite a different story.
“It’s going to be a little quieter, I know that,” Trotz said. “We’re going to have to be self-motivated. But this was Game 1, and we have 20-something here.”