Islanders Beat Leafs 4-3 in OT Beating The Maple Leafs -- and especially John Tavares -- proved to be a beautiful bit of 4-3 slump-busting last night at UBS Arena. To put it lightly -- but impolitely -- New York Islanders [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/new-york-islanders/game-day/new-york-islanders-toronto-maple-leafs-ubs-arena] forward Mathew Barzal delivered, and Tavares was last seen exiting in the team bus onto Cross Island Parkway looking for his first point. Or, as the chorus of thousands were either thinking or warbling, "Barzal Is Better." Modestly deflecting credit to coach Lane Lambert, Barzy commended the Skipper for some adroit line-changing and then got to the real point. "This was a BIG win!" Proof positive -- four out of the four points for Barzy included the OT game-winner and three very precious assists. (Tavares = 0 for the entire game.) And if you're wondering why the Orange and Blue still are singing the "YAY, TEAM" tune, this was a deluxe come-from-behind-victory. Image [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjAzNTY5Mzg4NzU2OTM2NjM1/usatsi_22271203.jpg] Down 3-1 in the middle frame, the Islanders said to themselves, "Enough of this nonsense." Defenseman Alex Romanov made it 3-2, followed by Bo Horvat's power-play tip at 13:51 of the second, and we had a brand new ball game. "That was a big goal for Rom," Horvat noted. "It brought us back to life. We were recovering pucks, and our battle level was high. We could have rolled over when we were down, 3-1, but we came out harder. " Then, a pause: "And especially Barzy, Dobson and Sorokin. They had a hell of a night." Sorokin was especially sharp in the third period when the Isles were outshot 9-4. Brilliant Ilya thereby enabled his team to reach overtime which was about as long as two shakes of a lamb's tail. After a Toronto icing, the Isles won the faceoff, and Barzal won the game with a deft tip-in behind goalie Martin Jones. "The players took it upon themselves," said Skipper Lambert. "We knew we had a performance the other night that we didn't like. They showed a lot of character, especially after being down 3-1. It wasn't so much the (my) line changes as it was the total resolve of the team." As Bazal said, this win was so, so BIG in so many ways, but mostly because it ended a skid and regained winning traction against a team that brings a Murderers Row of snipers to every game. Meanwhile, Noah (I'm Coming Up Strong) Dobson reinforced his bid for the Norris Trophy by assisting on all three regular-period goals and the winner. It marked Noah's first career four-assist game. And, by the way, the opener by my good friend Kyle Palmieri was a power play-er only 40 seconds into the game. Dobber's third assist -- on Bo's blast -- also was of the PP variety that tied the game, 3-3 at 13:51 of the second period. And as The Maven has often repeated -- "The Little Things Mean A Lot" --and they were produced as follows: Isles won face-offs 53-47 percent. Isles scored on 67 percent of power plays. Isles won 23-11 on hits. Summing up the sweet night was Bo. "I'm very proud of everyone on this team." I've got news for Mister Horvat: The Maven seconds the motion!
