What can be worse than blowing "The Dreaded Three-Goal Lead" late in the third period? You guessed it; losing the game to last place San Jose at UBS Center with five seconds left in overtime.
Oh, no, not again!
Yes, again!!
What can be worse than blowing "The Dreaded Three-Goal Lead" late in the third period?
You guessed it; losing the game to last place San Jose, 5-4 in sudden death at UBS Center last night with mere seconds left in overtime. That's what. (But the Islanders did get a point out of this.)
"To lose that hockey game," asserted a distraught coach Lane Lambert, "is a sin."
Or, as Captain Anders Lee stated: "It was bad. Really bad!"
No question, the Elmonters seem to turn third periods into Nightmare Alleys even in winning. But this latest collapse didn't begin until the 11:55 mark of the -- what should have been -- final frame when right wing Kevin Labanc launched the deck-of-cards comeback.
Until then, the "Homecoming" script -- after much time on the road -- was looking just fine.
Julien Gauthier opened the scoring in the first period for his second goal in two games. In the middle frame, Brock Nelson got a power-play goal, followed by Mike Reilly's shorthander. Beautiful!
Adding to joy was a third-period PP goal delivered by Ryan Pulock at 8:27. A three-goal lead against the 32d place team; what could be better with more than half the third period gone?
The question should be, what could be worse because after Labanc's tally? Tomas Hertl rounded out his hat trick at 16:49 and 18:30, setting the stage for sudden death.
Most painfully, it came in the dying seconds on a play that left goalie Ilya Sorokin -- 29 saves of 34 shots -- helpless as his defense scrambled too late to stop William Eklund's easy conversion into the empty net.
"We got on our heels," explained D-man Noah Dobson, "and they took advantage of us. It's on us. We've got to be better."
A franchise that for years prided itself on defense -- from the forwards to the goalkeepers -- has to rediscover the formula, and the sooner, the better.
Ironically, the club that has had issues with scoring can now pour it on as they did against the
Sharks with 37 shots on goal. The trick was that the visiting goalkeeper Kaapo Kahkonen made 33 saves and one more critical one than Sorokin in overtime.
Ah, but there's good news today. Try these positives on for size:
* Special Teams Delivered: There were two Isles power-play goals and one shorthander.
* Simon Holmstrom keeps improving. He had his first multi-assist game, and his four shorthanded points lead the league in that category
* Mike Reilly scored his first goal as an Islander in his home debut while earning the third star of the game.
* J-G Pageau's assist was his 300th career NHL point.
* Jean Gauthier got his fourth point in his last four contests
* After 24 games, the Isles are right in the middle of the playoff mix.
* They sit in fourth place -- 10-7-7 good for 27 points -- and only one point behind the Flyers and with a game in hand.
Summing up the scene now that the ice has been cleared, Captain Lee put it simply and succinctly: "This can't happen anymore. We have to figure this out."
A good time would be tomorrow night at UBS (7:30 p.m.) when the Blue Jackets come to town!