After coming from behind three times in the game, the New York Islanders took control of the third period and earned their third win.
By Patrick Comia
Never say never was the theme of last night’s win for the New York Islanders.
The team came back three times in a wild second period, that saw them and the San Jose Sharks put up five goals.
After going down 1-0 to the Sharks thanks to a Joe Pavelski tip-in in the first period, the doors of the Barclays Center opened up in the next 20 minutes.
Scoring was started by Islanders defenseman Johnny Boychuk, who got the puck off a John Tavares face-off win. He let loose a howitzer from the side boards that left Sharks goalie Alex Stalock stunned by how fast the puck found the back of the net, with less than a minute into the second.
However, :20 seconds later, the Sharks would regain the lead. Rookie Nikolay Goldobin would get his first NHL goal after a nice cross ice pass from veteran Joe Thornton.
That’s when the back and forth started. Three more goals would be scored by both teams, with the Islanders owning two of them.
First came from forward Anders Lee.
The good guys even it up! #ISLES POWER-PLAY GOAL from Lee. 2-2
— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) October 18, 2015
What made this play ‘unique’ was what occurred around the Sharks net, specifically at the man between the pipes. Islanders forward Ryan Strome shot the puck on goal, which may have glanced off Stalock’s mask. The puck went to the back boards, and retrieved by the eventual goal scorer Lee. As this was going on, the Sharks goaltender frantically tried to knock his mask off the puck, to signal stop of play. However, it was not granted and play continued.
Despite his attempts, the goal counted and the game was tied at two goals a piece.
After Sharks Joel Ward gave his team another one-goal lead, the Islanders answered back thanks for Josh Bailey‘s tip-in.
From there, it was all New York. Not only did they out shoot San Jose 12-7, they dominated the pace of play, seemingly being everywhere the Sharks tried to skate to. They allowed very few chances for the Sharks to set up, as the Islanders were on top of the play at every turn.
The remaining three goals were all Islanders, getting contributions from three different players:
And an empty-netter from Frans Nielsen
It was an impressive win for the Islanders, who got off to a 0-2 start this season. However, with the win tonight, they found themselves at the top of the Metropolitan Division.
"Good win tonight. We found a way in the second to jump start the game." @91Tavares #Isles pic.twitter.com/KwoUt24NcI
— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) October 18, 2015
New York had five players register at least two points, with Okposo leading the way with three points (one goal, two assists).
The team will have the next two days off to get ready for the struggling Columbus Blue Jackets, which they will face at home next Tuesday.
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