Drought over, Islanders bring confidence vs. Devils
It took four days in real time and more than 130 minutes of ice time, but the New York Islanders finally ended their scoring drought and losing streak Monday night.
The Islanders will hope there's more where that came from Tuesday night, when they visit the New Jersey Devils in a battle of local rivals in Newark, N.J.
Both teams are coming off home games against the Colorado Avalanche. Anders Lee's drought-busting goal early in the third period Monday night lifted the Islanders to a 1-0 win over the Avalanche in Uniondale, N.Y. The loss ended a two-game winning streak for Colorado, which beat the Devils, 5-2, on Saturday night.
Lee's goal was the first for the Islanders since Thursday, when Brock Nelson scored in the second period of a 2-1 loss to the Devils. New York went 139 minutes and 21 seconds between goals despite collecting over 30 total shots on goals in each game against the Avalanche, New Jersey and the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Head coach Barry Trotz said Monday night he was hopeful Lee's goal would help the Islanders relax instead of focusing on goal-scoring difficulties that began long before the new year. New York has lost 11 of its last 21 (10-9-2), and it has scored two goals or fewer 22 times this season.
"The one thing in this business -- when you win, you feel lighter," Trotz said. "It's all confidence-based. When you don't win, or part of your game's not where it (should be), it's just like an individual. If you're not scoring, you start going 'Maybe I've got to change this, go do this.' You don't stay with it long enough. I think when you get rewarded -- OK, we got one goal, we scored one more than them tonight. Next game, maybe we get a couple more."
The Devils' confidence rose during a season-long five-game point streak (4-0-1) that ended Saturday and included wins over a pair of Eastern Conference contenders in the Islanders and Boston Bruins. But New Jersey couldn't establish itself against the high-scoring Avalanche, who entered Monday with the most goals (156) in the NHL before being shutout for just the second time this season.
"The first 40 (minutes), I don't think we got to our game," Devils interim head coach Alain Nasreddine said Saturday, when New Jersey trailed 2-0 after two periods. "We said before the game we were either going to play on offense, or if we fed their transition game, that we were going to play a lot of defense, and that's what happened."
Islanders goalie Semyon Varlamov made his fifth straight start Monday and stopped all 32 shots he faced. Backup Thomas Greiss is likely to draw his first start Tuesday since Dec. 27, when he took the defeat against the Chicago Blackhawks after allowing three goals in fewer than 12 minutes before being pulled for Varlamov in a 5-2 loss.
Mackenzie Blackwood, the Devils' No. 1 goalie, is expected to start despite leaving practice early Monday due to illness. Blackwood took the loss Saturday after making 29 saves.
The Devils may also be without star rookie center Jack Hughes (upper body) and left winger Jesper Bratt (lower body). Hughes, who has missed the last two games, didn't practice Monday while Jesper, who was scratched Saturday, skated prior to practice.
--Field Level Media
