All the New York Islanders needed Wednesday night to clinch a playoff spot was a point. They got two instead as they beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-2.
ELMONT, NY -- All the New York Islanders needed Wednesday night to clinch a playoff spot was a point. They got two instead as they beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-2.
With that extra point, the Islanders have given themselves the potential to avoid the Boston Bruins in the first round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
If the Florida Panthers lose in regulation to the Carolina Hurricanes Thursday night, the Islanders play Carolina.
LINES:
Anders Lee-Bo Horvat-Josh Bailey
Pierre Engvall-Brock Nelson-Kyle Palmieri
Zach Parise-Jean-Gabriel Pageau-Hudson Fasching
Matt Martin-Casey Cizikas-Cal Clutterbuck
Adam Pelech-Scott Mayfield
Sebastian Aho-Ryan Pulock
Samuel Bolduc-Noah Dobson
Ilya Sorokin
Semyon Varlamov
RAPID RECAP:
The New York Islanders knew what they had to do Wednesday night against the Montreal Canadiens. They had to get to their game early and pounce early.
And that they did.
After establishing their game from the opening puck drop, along with a few strong saves from netminder Ilya Sorokin, Brock Nelson sniped Canadiens netminder Sam Montembeault glove side at 10:26 of the first period to give New York a monumental 1-0 lead.
His 35th of the season was assisted by Kyle Palmieri and Adam Pelech.
After scoring, the Islanders lost their structure a bit, relying heavily on Sorokin, who had to make a handful of dandy saves to keep his team in front.
Eventually, the Islanders sloppiness caught up to them.
Following a failed breakout and then a Noah Dobson turnover, Canadiens forward Remi Pitlick rifled home a one-timer with 2:22 to play in the opening period.
But 1:19 later, Hudson Fasching hopped on a loose puck, scoring his 10th of the season to give New York a 2-1 lead with 1:03 to play in the first.
Sorokin stopped seven of eight.
After a back-and-forth first half of the second, Nelson scored his second of the contest, 36th, as he deflected a Noah Dobson point shot to give New York a 3-1 lead with 9:40 to play in the second.
The Islanders looked more than fine at five-on-five, but when you have a struggling power play, the worst thing you can do is allow a shorthanded goal.
Well, the Canadiens got a goal closer at 16:38 of the second as Nick Suzuki scored shorthanded as he out-hustled Samuel Bolduc to a puck before beating Sorokin over the glove with a silky chip to make it a 3-2 game.
Bolduc did not take a shift in the third period.
"He was beat up the ice. He could have maintained body position on Suzuki and didn't," Lambert said. "There's a young player learning and growing and he will learn from those situations."
The Islanders brought their one-goal lead into the third period, a period in which Bolduc did not take a shift.
The Islanders extended their lead to 4-2 as the power play finally came through after an 0-for-18 slump as Anders Lee deflected a Sebastian Aho point shot four minutes to play.
"That was a huge, huge time for it, [coming] only a few minutes left in the game, with a one-goal lead to make it two...puts it a little bit further out of reach," Nelson said. "So that was a huge goal and a nice tip by Lee."
Lee's 28th of the season was assisted by Aho and Dobson.
The New York Islanders closed the game out, as they advance to the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs after a 4-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens.
"It's pretty gratifying," Lambert said on getting in. "Yes it's cliche. Yes, it's the first step, but it's a very difficult step. It's a step that required 82 games doesn't always require the full 82 But for us, it did."
This was an Islanders team that dealt with their fair share of injuries, along with lackluster play, during this season. Zach Parise put it best on how the Islanders found a way.
"I almost feel as if we potentially got written off a little bit when Barzal went down. And we rallied, and we put together a pretty good record from then on to put ourselves in this spot," Parise said. "I’m sure you could point to a lot of different times in the season that got us here. But here we are.”
As the Islanders now wait to see who they will play in the first round, either the Boston Bruins or Carolina Hurricanes, there's little satisfaction from just getting in.
"I think we have something to prove in the sense that let's go make something happen. We aren't just happy that we got in or anything like that," Lee said. "That's not the mindset of this group. We are looking to go do something."
WHAT'S NEXT: NHL Playoffs. Time, and opponent TBD.