Sweet sound
Isles conjure cheers and Coliseum memories with vital first win at new home
When UBS Arena was in the process of being built, the developers said they wanted it to sound, during games, the way it did at Nassau Coliseum. The ceiling was built nearly to the exact height, the acoustics designed to shower the ice with noise — like the Coliseum, but with a few thousand extra seats.
On Saturday night, the Islanders got to hear that throwback noise at their new home — finally — as they completed a 4-2 comeback win over the Devils.
Following the victory, Islanders coach Barry Trotz sat with a bemused smile, describing the sound.
“I was sitting in the office here and you could hear the thunder of the fans in the locker room, in the coach’s room,” Trotz said. “That’s fantastic.”
The Devils held a 2-1 lead in the second period when Andy Greene and Zach Parise broke scoreless droughts of 33 and 32 regular-season games, respectively, to put the Islanders ahead and give the feel of an exorcism in more ways than one as they won for the first time in their new building.
Noah Dobson scored on a power play in the first period, Jean-Gabriel Pageau added an insurance goal midway through the third and Ilya Sorokin made 30 saves as the Islanders (7-11-5) won for the second time in three games after an 11-game losing streak.
With the pregame announcement that the Devils would be missing captain Nico Hischier and top-six defenseman Ryan Graves due to COVID-19 protocol, coupled with Brock Nelson and Casey Cizikas being activated for the Islanders, there wasn’t going to be a better chance for a win. To boot, the Devils put Akira Schmid in net for his NHL debut.
“Let’s face it,” Parise said. “It was as close to a mustwin as we’ve had all season.”
Greene’s goal to tie the score at 2-2 came seemingly out of nowhere, with a wrist shot from above the right circle at 8:33. Parise’s shorthanded tally was sprung by Pageau on a breakaway eight minutes later.
After Parise scored, he pumped both his fists and let out a yell. On the bench, Trotz gave him a hard slap on the back. The goal came on what would have been the 80th birthday of Parise’s father, former Islanders and North Stars winger J.P. Parise. And what a moment for it. With 10:23 to go in the game, the Islanders got much-needed insurance when Pageau — another player who had struggled to get on the board during the team’s losing streak — put away Oliver Wahlstrom’s breakaway feed.
A two-goal lead was enough to withstand the Devils’ onslaught for the rest of the period. The Devils emptied their net with four minutes to go, but the Islanders had the better of the chances despite their numbers disadvantage.
When the horn finally sounded, the crowd noise rising to a crescendo, the Islanders gathered in Sorokin’s crease for a well-earned hug before saluting the fans.
“I think we all had chills at the end,” Pageau said. “[The fans] were there the whole game. Even when we were trailing, you could hear them cheering for us.”
Early in the game, they looked like the same Islanders who had lost 11 of 12 coming in. They took over nine minutes to record a shot on goal.
Scott Mayfield turned the puck over at the offensive blue line, leading Jonas Siegenthaler to spring Jesper Bratt for the Devils’ first goal at 17:01 of the first. The Islanders got it back a minute later when Dobson scored with a point shot on the power play, but Jack Hughes put the Devils up 2-1 with a laser past Sorokin at 18:25 of the first.
The tide turned soon after, however, and the Islanders finally had an occasion to celebrate in their new home.
“I think when you lose a couple late like we have recently at home, that confidence, that championship mentality we had the last couple years, it just seems like it wasn’t there for a little bit,” Mathew Barzal said. “[I] really thought [that] tonight we got it back.”