An Overtime Win, and Their First Road Victory of the Season!

Two goals were waved off in the game, the contest was a 1-0 affair until under 3 minutes being left in the third period, and an overtime power play goal deciding the outcome. In the end, though, the New York Islanders came away with a 2-1 win at the Air Canada Centre to win their first road game of the season and give the Toronto Maple Leafs their first loss of the season.

The Islanders took a 1-0 lead early in the second period on a goal by Matt Moulson, which was on a beautiful setup by John Tavares. The first period had been a pretty even affair, but the Leafs seemed to take a little bit more of the play in the second. It initially appeared that Kris Versteeg tied the game later in the second period, but the goal was waved off immediately by the referee because it was judged Versteeg had knocked the puck down with a high stick before he shot it into the net.

The third period was often dominated by the Leafs at times, and, once again, they believed they had tied the game when Colby Armstrong thought he had managed to put a puck by a prone Dwaine Roloson. However, the goal was reviewed, and it was determined that the puck had never actually crossed the goal line, rolling post to post instead. On a late power play with James Wisniewski in the box for a cross check, though, Phil Kessel scored on a broken play to knot the game at 1 and send it into overtime.

Dwaine Roloson was simply fantastic in net for the Isles. You simply can’t say enough about the 41 year old. He made several, incredible saves, including a few point blank blasts. Without a doubt, the game would not have gotten to the OT without the strong net minding by Rollie.

Brett Lebda of Toronto took a penalty for goaltender interference with just under 2 minutes left in the extra frame to give the Islanders a 4 on 3 power play. On a nice feed from James Wisniewski, who took a pass from PA Parenteau, John Tavares blasted a slap shot passed Jean-Sebastien Giguere to give the Isles the victory and improve their season record to 3-1-2. If they ever did need the power play to come through for them, the blue and orange got a Big goal from JT.

I wouldn’t call it an “impressive” win by any means. Toronto out shot the Isles 30-20, and, as I said, the Leafs took the play a great deal in the second and third periods. Still, the boys found a way to win. To me, that is what counts, and to win one on the road was definitely a good thing for the Isles. The only “bad news” that came out of the game was Josh Bailey leaving in the second period with what was reported as a hip injury, though I assume we will get more details over the next few days.

Onto Tampa on Thursday and then a meeting with the cats at the BankAtlanta Center in Sunrise on Saturday with the dads along for the trip with the team. We should see some observations from Gary, who is supposed to be at the game Thursday.