Islanders play most complete game of season in win over Ducks
Here is how the Islanders can survive whatever injuries come.Play like they did Tuesday.Play territorial, tight hockey, hound the puck relentlessly and outwork teams that are still easing into the season.
Play with intensity and emotion, make quick, crisp, correct decisions with the puck.Do all of that and the players who are missing from the lineup will not be so front of mind.Do all of that, and there will be a lot more games like Tuesday’s 3-2 win over Anaheim, in which the Islanders played their most complete 60 minutes of the season to improve their record to 5-3-1 with the hapless Kings coming into town Thursday.This was a near-perfect showcase of how the Islanders can make it through the next few weeks, and the philosophy showcased Tuesday would be the right one even if Mat Barzal, Calum Ritchie and Matias Maccelli received clean bills of health tomorrow.The Islanders weren’t perfect and missed chances to put away Anaheim in the second period, but they were hardworking and, mostly, smart with the puck.
They owned the neutral zone, suffocating Anaheim for shifts at a time.They backchecked.
They looked all game like the faster team despite being the far older team — a sign of preparedness if there ever was one.Even so, failing to make good on any chances in the second period meant the Islanders went into the third leading 3-1, still needing to stitch up the result.The score stayed right there, with Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s short-handed attempt drawing iron, but the Islanders rarely looked troubled.They continued to own the puck.
When the Ducks emptied their net with 3:32 to go, they had just two shots in the period.Their third, an Alex Killorn one-timer in the slot, made it a 3-2 game with 2:40 to go.If there was a criticism to be had of this Islanders performance, it’s that they played with their food, and it nearly came back to bite them.Nevertheless, it didn’t.The four goals in the first period had all come in a 5:05-long flurry, starting with O...