SAN JOSE, Calif. — It wasn’t pretty, they didn’t find their game until the third period and really, who cares about that.
The Islanders got out of the SAP Center with two points in hand, and that is what matters most after Saturday night’s 2-1 overtime win against the Sharks.
With the Blue Jackets — whose chances of catching the Islanders looked all but done after they fell seven points back just over a week ago — picking up points seemingly every night, there is suddenly a three-team race for the last two Metropolitan Division playoff spots to worry about, and Bo Horvat’s game-winner jolted the Islanders to the top of it, ahead of the Penguins and into second in the Metro.
So, forget pretty. Especially on the road and especially against a Sharks team that had the Islanders on their heels for a lot of this game. Forget that it wasn’t a great second period. What matters is what came next.
“I thought maybe the third was our best period of the road trip,” coach Patrick Roy said. “I thought we simplified our game, we put pucks deep. We had to get our forecheck going, win those battles in the corners, low to high and throw pucks at the net.”
Indeed, it was the best period the Islanders played in California this trip, and by an order of magnitude. Finally, they held onto pucks, established a game down low and created sustained pressure. Finally, the top line, which had not looked quite right all trip, started making a positive impact on every shift.
If there was one less-than-positive piece of those 20 minutes, it’s that the Islanders failed to convert on the power play after Kiefer Sherwood’s roughing penalty handed them a chance to end it at 16:15 of the period, their third scoreless power play in three tries on the night.
The penalty kill that followed when Adam Pelech went for holding shortly after the game returned to even strength, though, was an exercise in grit, with Horvat making a crucial block on Dmitry Orlov and Ilya Sorokin his best save of 30 on the night with a stop on Will Smith that helped send the game to overtime.
And, after finishing off the kill in the extra period and suffering through 3:11 of overtime while barely touching the puck with the game at four-on-four, the Islanders finally got their chance at 4:20 of OT, when Matthew Schaefer sprung Horvat on the rush.
Horvat, promptly, ended the game and made it 9-0 for the Islanders in games that end at three-on-three.
“It builds us confidence for sure,” Horvat said. “We definitely weren’t at our best the last two games and we knew that. I thought we were a heck of a lot better here tonight.”
Brayden Schenn’s debut had its moments, good and bad, and he admitted to having nerves for the first time in a long time. His screen in front helped DeAngelo’s shot to beat Yaroslav Askarov 11:37 into the night, and his hit on Mario Ferraro along the left-hand wall was the hardest of the night for either team. Cal Ritchie appeared reasonably comfortable on the wing, especially early in the night.
“Do I think I had my A-game? No,” Schenn said. “I just tried to buy into the team system and do whatever they asked me to do. I feel like, obviously, I have more offensively to give. But at the same time, I’m just happy to be part of a win.”
Schenn’s line with Ritchie and Ondrej Palat came out of the night with poor numbers, but that was largely a factor of being matched with Macklin Celebrini’s line, which scored against them just 33 seconds into the second period on Celebrini’s snap shot from the slot.
Anthony Duclair, who returned to the lineup in place of a healthy-scratched Kyle MacLean, had a solid night on the fourth line, which was solid all night. DeAngelo had one of his better games too.
The trio of stars who didn’t look quite right in Anaheim or Los Angeles — Schaefer, Horvat, Mat Barzal — were much better in this one, though it did take them a while to get going. Once they did, it served as a reminder of why they are so crucial.
“You can tell it’s a special group of guys that play for one another and that’s how you win hockey games,” Schenn said. “They’re all not flashy and pretty and that’s what it looked like tonight. We gutted it out.
“Big block by Bo. Big game-winner by Bo.”
