ISLANDERS 3 DEVILS 2 (OVERTIME)
Lee scores in OT; reaction from John Chabot
The Islanders defeated the New Jersey Devils in overtime, 3-2, at The Rock this evening on an OT goal at 2:32 by defenseman Chris Lee, with assists from Sean Bergenheim and Bruno Gervais. Here’s the boxscore.
The Islanders scored two shorthanded goals late in the first period: Andy Hilbert at 15:31 and Kurtis McLean at 18:26. New Jersey goals were by Johnny Oduya and, in a shocker, Zach Parise with 37 seconds left in the second period to tie the game at 2-2.
The Islanders were out-shot by the Devils in the third period, 15-5, but had the only two shots in the extra session. A big plus for the visitors was the netminding of Yann Danis, slated to be the team’s No. 3 goaltender on the Island and No. 1 goaltender in Bridgeport (AHL). Danis allowed two goals on 30 shots.
“Yann was very good,” said assistant coach John Chabot in a post-game call with Point Blank. “He’s really not a surprise for us because he’s been a good pro goaltender for a while. Tonight, Yann was really big in the third – especially when New Jersey was on the power play. He kept us in the game.”
On the power play, New Jersey was 1-5 and the Islanders were 0-4. The game also featured three fights: Witt vs. Clarkson, Fritz vs. Brookbank and Comrie vs. Gionta. Said Chabot: “When you’re playing a team that’s in your face all the time and playing a physical style like New Jersey, you have to push back. It’s great when you have a veteran like Witter stepping up like he’s always done. Mike Comrie went at it again, like he did last year against this team. And then we had Fritzy proving again that he can more than take care of himself. The staff was real pleased. We have to play a team-tough style.”
Chabot took mild exception to the perception that the 15-5 shot differential in the third period means the Islanders were badly out-played and still have a long way to go. “Were we perfect? No. It’s still a learning process for us,” Chabot said. “We did a lot of good things. Our breakout and our forecheck were so much stronger tonight than Wednesday at home against the Devils.
“We have to play that style Scott is preaching. When we’re effective, we can turn a great opponent into just a good opponent that can make mistakes. We were pretty good at that against the Devils. Now we need to keep it going against a vastly different team like Boston tomorrow night.”
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Greg Logan of Newsday was at The Rock and blogged recaps. Greg is critical of the team’s performance, writing the Islanders better adapt to Scott Gordon’s system soon or the outcome in the regular season opener probably won’t be the same. The official team site also has a game story.
5 Responses to ISLANDERS 3 DEVILS 2 (OVERTIME)
Lee scores in OT; reaction from John Chabot
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kevin says:
uh oh is fritz gunna play over sugden???
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Jax says:
Fritz is a beast. I think he should get the spot. I heard he is playing decent this preseason. they both really can’t play that much but it looks like Fritz has the more skill of the two.
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Chris TMC says:
Very nice to see a win
Id be happy if the season opener ends up the same way! -
Darren says:
Well, technically we didn’t SEE this win due to the lack of TV coverage! But it does amaze me that they were able to get a win out of it! Despite not playing very good in the in the 3rd. Thanks to Yann.
So Chris Lee scores on his birthday against the Devils. Islanders seem to be handing out plenty of birthday presents this week.