PAIN OLD STORY
Final-period troubles pop back up as Islanders surrender lead to Devils
It is not so much the loss itself that is so discouraging for the Islanders, but the manner in which it occurred.
Because, just when you thought the Islanders were turning the ship around, with points in six straight and wins in three of four and a two-goal lead entering the third period against the Devils, they slipped straight back into the third-period habits that dogged them for the first two weeks of November. That is to say, the sort of habits that allow an opposing team to take a 4-2 deficit and turn it into a 5-4 win over the span of 20 minutes.
The Islanders, indeed, were left with a lot to think about on a flight to Raleigh following a monumental third-period collapse on which Curtis Lazar’s goal with 22.5 seconds to go prevented them from at least exiting Prudential Center with the dignity of a loser point.
“This one stings,” coach Lane Lambert said. “This one stings bad.”
Things started to go wrong barely five minutes into the third as Mike Reilly lost the puck in the Islanders’ zone, leading to Jack Hughes tying the game on the other end of the ice.
It looked like the Islanders would get a reprieve from New Jersey’s pressure when Jesper Bratt went off for interference at 9:43. But Mathew Barzal and Simon Holmstrom took penalties of their own to turn a fiveon-four into a four-on-three the other way — and from there, Nico Hischier quickly poked in a rebound to tie the game at the 11:10 mark.
Then, in the game’s final minute, just as it was looking like the Islanders would at least get a point, Lazar poked in a rebound to set The Rock alight and send the Islanders into despair.
“It does suck,” Kyle Palmieri told The Post. “But it is what it is and you gotta play till the buzzer. It’s not like we were sitting there and trying to hang on for OT. It’s just some chances. They got the bounce they needed.”
Getting it to overtime, though, would have at least extended a points streak to seven and given the Islanders a shot at three-on-three.
“Right there, end of the game, we gotta do a better job of managing with that much time left,” Noah Dobson told The Post. “Find a way to get it to overtime and go from there.”
As has become the trend when the Islanders and Devils face off, this became a scrambling, freewheeling game as the clash of styles between physicality and speed continued to produce entertaining, high-end hockey. That was most exemplified during a second period when the Islanders scored three straight goals to take control of the game.
Dawson Mercer gave the Devils a 2-1 lead 4:19 into the second when he converted a two-on-one rush from Jack Hughes, but it was short-lived as Barzal finished a breakaway of his own just 4:05 later.
A pair of scrambling goals — first from Cal Clutterbuck and then Jean-Gabriel Pageau — then gave the Islanders the lead and doubled it. First, Clutterbuck got his backhand onto Casey Cizikas’ initial shot from the slot to send Vitek Vanecek the wrong way. Then Pageau finished a one-time, no-look feed from Barzal to break a 20-game goalless drought that had dogged his start to the season, leading the Devils to pull Vanecek for Akira Schmid.
That move from Devils coach Lindy Ruff proved inspired as Schmid stopped all nine shots he saw over 20:36. But the Islanders have nowhere to look but the mirror in assessing this disaster of a loss.
“Obviously it’s extremely concerning,” Lambert said. “We had the game under control. We had a power play. And we take a penalty.”
And then things spun out of control. That is the story of the season so far.