Still fighting
Islanders throttle Jets to salvage hopes
This Islanders team has a way of defying gravity on Earth and falling right back down as soon as it breaks orbit.
Thursday’s loss in Detroit very much constituted a fall back to Earth.
So of course, following their worst defeat of the season, the Islanders put forth a complete and excellent effort in a sterling 6-3 win over the Jets on home ice Saturday to pull some playoff hope from the doom and gloom of the last week.
“I thought every single guy tonight played well,” Mathew Barzal said after accounting for three points of his own. “That’s the key to us winning. That’s just the team we are. We need every single guy playing.
“There’s been nights where not every guy has been going. Those are the nights we generally lose. When everybody’s moving, playing hard, playing the right way and playing to our system, we’re a tough team to beat.”
The pattern of performance doesn’t make much sense and neither does the spark coming from a pair of Cal Clutterbuck goals in the first period. But little else about this season has, and all that matters is that the Islanders — after the Red Wings lost to the Predators — are three points back of a playoff spot with a game in hand on Detroit, thinking of themselves as right back in the race.
Following six straight losses in which their energy was consistently lacking, this was exactly the sort of performance the Islanders needed to prove, at least to their own dressing room, that the season is not over.
They took the game to Winnipeg, breaking out as a five-man unit with consistent support. They played with desperation, produced chances from all four lines and possessed the puck with near constancy. They controlled their own territory and pushed north, as if it was rugby on ice.
“That’s exactly what we were hoping to see,” coach Patrick Roy said.
Do that 12 more times and the Islanders will be in the playoffs. But nothing is as easy as it sounds when Win No. 30 comes in Game No. 70.
The proof of that came in Clutterbuck — who came into the afternoon with just five goals — being the one to score the first two goals, attacking Neal Pionk to get his own rebound off an offensive-zone draw before unleashing a laser off the rush to make it 2-0 8:50 into the game.
Vladislav Namestnikov scored on Winnipeg’s second shot of the game to cut the lead in half, but that proved a temporary setback as Kyle Palmieri completed an excellent passing sequence from Bo Horvat and Brock Nelson to make it 3-1 going into the first intermission.
The second line of Anders Lee, Barzal and Hudson Fasching accounted for all three goals in the second period, with each player getting one.
Barzal recorded his 50th assist of the season, feeding Fasching to finish off a long offensive-zone shift 1:51 into the period. Then it was Fasching getting the assist to Barzal, who knocked in a rebound, before Barzal’s pass to Lee set up the sixth goal of the afternoon at 15:32.
“I thought those were two of our best periods all year,” Barzal said.
Two Winnipeg goals in the third served little purpose other than to make the final score look a little nicer and get Semyon Varlamov some work, as he finished with 33 saves.
This performance proved something that was already evident in blowout wins over Tampa and Boston. On their best day, the Islanders can beat anyone in the league.
Their problem is not one of potential but of tapping into it.
In the grand scheme of things, one win doesn’t do much for that issue aside from restoring the Islanders’ confidence. That is no small matter, but getting over the cut line will only come with a consistent finish to the season.
“It’s funny,” Barzal said. “We can go out and beat a top team by a couple goals and drop games we shouldn’t drop. It has been a little bit confusing.
“I think it’s a matter of when everybody’s on, we’re a good team to beat and when we’re not — when one or two guys, three guys are off, it brings everybody down. We need everybody going the rest of the way.”