It doesn’t matter if you make $8 million or $800,000. The New York Islanders need wins and had unlikely heroes rise to the occasion to defeat the Winnipeg Jets.
It doesn’t matter if you make $8 million or $800,000.
The New York Islanders need wins and head coach Patrick Roy aligned his group in the way he thought was best against the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday night.
That meant that, for a second straight game, Mathew Barzal played center, flanked by Anders Lee and Hudson Fasching.
That also meant Simon Holmstrom was coming out of the lineup, and veteran Matt Martin was coming back in.
The defense pairs were altered as well after some rough performances.
The line configurations worked.
After the unlikely but deadly sniper Cal Clutterbuck scored two goals in 3:28 to give New York a 2-0 lead, and Kyle Palmieri added one to make it 3-1 before the end of the first, the Barzal line went to work.
First, it was Fasching lighting the lamp off a nifty feed from Barzal on the doorstep just 1:51 into the second.
Then, Barzal showed desperation and will, by getting a loose puck past the goal line at 8:11, before Lee won a battle in front before whipping the puck in to give New York a commanding 6-1 lead.
Despite being outshot 17-3 in the third, backup netminder Semyon Varlamov came up clutch, denying 15 of them to secure the win.
Fasching, who was playing in just his fourth game since missing 15 with an injury, scored the game-winner and recorded his first three-point performance of his career.
Lee, who had not scored since March 7, got a goal.
“I thought that everyone was just doing their part,” Barzal said. “I thought Lee was getting to the net, making it hard. I thought he had some great entries and Fasching, protecting the puck down low, getting me the puck and all those kinds of things. I thought my speed in the middle was as good as it's been all year so far.
“When we're all doing our jobs, it can be a pretty dynamic line.”
Clutterbuck, who hadn’t scored since March 10, scored those two, with Martin earning a monumental assist.
Rookie Kyle Maclean took part in his first NHL fight with the Islanders up 2-1, adding momentum.
It was just one of those efforts Islander fans were longing to see.
We just played so well,” Roy said. “We were not fancy. We were putting pucks deep, we were putting pucks at the net. We were playing very north from our breakout, and our neutral-zone regroup. We move that puck quick. We put the puck deep, put pressure on their defense, and held onto the puck a lot in the first period.
“So, I was very happy to see that.”
Because of that win, the Islanders are right back in this thing and have to take care of business against the New Jersey Devils tonight at 5 PM.