Islanders 5 – Panthers 3
They did what they were supposed to do.
Last night, against a team they should have beaten, the Islanders held a third-period lead, had some key bounces go their way and got good enough goaltending to preserve a hard-fought 5-3 win at the Coliseum.
And for their work, they are out of last place in the division for the first tie this year.
“Our game was no different tonight than it was the other night,” Peter Laviolette said of the Carolina loss Tuesday. “We didn’t get it done the other night. In my head, the only thing I keep thinking is that if those guys play that way every night, we’re gonna win a lot more than we lose. I’m proud of the way they’re working. They’re working their tails off.”
Heck, the Isles even scored a pair of power-play goals last night, ending a maddening 3-for-44 streak and killed off all seven Florida extra-man chances.
They snapped an 0-for-23 run on the power play, when at 14:25 of the first period Kenny Jonsson blasted his second of the year through the mess in front caused by Mark Parrish.
“It takes about a thousand pounds off your shoulders,” said Parrish, who needs a second flak jacket for the steady beating of cross-checks he receives in front of the enemy goal.
The Islander lead grew to 3-1 on goals by Claude Lapointe and then Adrian Aucoin on the power play at 5:40 of the second, but the other little problem these Isles have is they let their opponents back into games on a nightly basis.
The two-goal lead vanished when Lance Ward beat Chris Osgood with a quick backhand and Brad Ference got a shot through a Peter Worrell-Eric Cairns battle in front that Ozzie never saw.
Osgood had let in half of the four shots he faced in the second period. He redeemed himself in standing up to a late Florida rush in which he had several show-stopping saves and for the first time this season, looked comfortable between the pipes.
“He made some tremendous saves at the end of the game,” Laviolette said.
“Losers, they shut it down when it’s hard,” Adrian Aucoin said of getting through the recent funk. “You get frustrated, you go the wrong way. I think we’ve pulled together strong. You look at a guy like Ozzie, who probably hasn’t been at the top of his game. He’s the one working the hardest out there and that really shows everybody in the room how it’s done.”
Alexei Yashin made it 4-3 on some help by Shawn Bates being thrown into Roberto Luongo with 43.1 seconds remaining in the second and Arron Asham put it away with his empty-net goal with 18.6 second left in the game.