It took over seven minutes of frantic defending at six-on-five, exhaustive performances by a forward group that went most of the night without Anthony Beauvillier and a defense group that was missing Adam Pelech. It took a bone-crushing hit from Alexander Romanov on Miles Wood and speed it wasn’t clear the Islanders had before now.
But after 10 combined goals, a hockey game that spent much of 60 minutes on a knife’s edge and the first time in who knows how long that these two teams looked like a real rivals, the Islanders handed the Devils just their fifth regulation loss of the season by the eyebrow-raising score of 6-4 on Friday night at Prudential Center. It all left you wanting to exhale.
“It was like a playoff game,” Romanov said.
“There was a lot on the line,” Zach Parise said.
“The atmosphere in the game overall was outstanding,” Islanders coach Lane Lambert said. “Crowd was great. It was a good hockey game.”
The Islanders looked to have had the game in hand after Cal Clutterbuck scored a minute into the third period to make it 6-2, but the Devils were not dead yet. Tomas Tatar pulled them within three a minute later and New Jersey coach Lindy Ruff defied convention by pulling netminder Akira Schmid with over seven minutes left in the game. That led to Jack Hughes pulling them within two at 13:39, which in turn led to 6:21 of scrambling, pulsating, desperate defense during which Hughes barely left the ice, saved an empty-net goal with his body and threatened the net constantly. The Islanders, somehow, hung on.
“I know they got a couple pipes, they got one [goal], but it’s a long time [at six-on-five], you know what I mean?” Parise said. “They’re going to get their looks and when they did, [Semyon Varlamov] did a really good job.”
Despite failing to record a shot for the final 13:13 of the game, the Islanders somehow outshot New Jersey 32-29 on the night with a 20-18 margin at five-on-five.
The floodgates opened in a three-goal second period for the Islanders, with Casey Cizikas and Oliver Wahlstrom scoring twice within a 40-second span to bring the score from 2-1 to 4-1, causing Ruff to pull Vitek Vanecek for Schmid. Dawson Mercer pulled the Devils within 4-2 when he scored on a two-on-one break at 6:03 of the second, but Brock Nelson’s second goal of the night, a one-timer on the power play to make it 5-2 at 16:47, gave the Islanders a solid cushion going into the final 20 minutes.
It turned out, they would need every bit of it — and Clutterbuck’s goal early in the third didn’t hurt.
“We were going north with the puck,” Lambert said. “Casey’s goal was a great play — middle lane drive by [Matt Martin] and a good play by Cal. Even Cal’s goal to start the third period, the puck goes north, we went in on the forecheck, we got the puck back. So I liked the fact that we were going north and staying connected as a group.”
The Islanders had just enough speed to keep pace with the ultra-fast Devils, and their physicality didn’t hurt either. Romanov’s hit on Wood midway through the second period, in particular, helped set the tone.
The Islanders defended with desperation when needed and responded offensively when asked. And though the game went chance-for-chance for long stretches — probably too many for the Islanders’ liking — they have the offensive firepower to keep up in such a situation. This was not a fluke win brought on by bad New Jersey goaltending. The Islanders deserved two points from this one, and they got it.
These Islanders have shown they can beat anyone — Colorado, Calgary, Edmonton and now the Devils — on any night. They can also lose to anyone — Arizona, Philadelphia and Nashville twice. All that has so far added up to a 17-11-0 record that feels like the Islanders are simultaneously stealing points and wasting opportunities with regularity.
This one, though, will feel good, and rightfully so.
“They’ve obviously been at the top of the league right from the start,” Nelson said. “I thought that was a good test for us.”
And the Islanders aced it.