With the Dallas Stars back in action, hosting the Edmonton Oilers for Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, let's flashback to Jan. 21 in Elmont.
With the Dallas Stars back in action, hosting the Edmonton Oilers for Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, let's look flashback to Jan. 21 in Elmont.
After an 0-3-1 road trip, New York Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello relieved Lane Lambert of his duties, hiring Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender Patrick Roy.
The new bench boss quickly made his way to Long Island, arriving on Jan. 20 with a little over 24 hours to prepare for the Stars, who came to UBS Arena on the evening of Jan. 21.
After just one morning skate, Roy didn't change much, rocking these lines with Ilya Sorokin between the pipes against Scott Wedgewood:
Anders Lee -- Bo Horvat -- Mathew Barzal
Hudson Fasching -- Brock Nelson -- Kyle Palmieri
Simon Holmstrom -- Jean-Gabriel Pageau -- Julien Gauthier
Matt Martin -- Casey Cizikas -- Cal Clutterbuck
Alexander Romanov -- Noah Dobson
Adam Pelech -- Sebastian Aho
Samuel Bolduc -- Scott Mayfield
It was Romanov who opened the scoring, beating Wedgewood with a snipe off the rush at 2:52 of the first period:
However, the Stars scored twice in the second period in a 3:33 to take a 2-1 lead into the third period.
Fasching tied the score at 2-2 just 5:23 into the third period after he deflected a Noah Dobson point shot:
The game would need overtime, during which Bo Horvat made a heads-up play, pointing with his stick to ask Mathew Barzal to pass him the puck off the boards.
Barzal followed the instructions, springing Horvat on a breakaway before he finished on the backhand for the winning tally, giving Roy his first win behind the Islanders' bench in his first game:
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPoOPoXl0_I[/embed]
Here's Roy's celebration, with Islanders captain Anders Lee making sure to get him the puck:
Later in the season, Horvat, yet again, buried the overtime winner against Dallas in another 3-2 win, courtesy of a Mathew Barzal feed:
Going back to that first win, the Islanders didn't play a great game but it was the building blocks to getting the team to believe in themselves.
That was Roy's goal all season, that one bad shift or one bad period didn't have to mean they lost the game.
It was a mindset that New York didn't fully grasp but certainly used to get into the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.