New York Islanders avert another meltdown, hang on to beat Blackhawks

The New York Islanders won the first leg of their home and away set with the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night at UBS Arena. The biggest story on the night was Simon Holmstrom’s three-point game. Holmstrom broke out, scoring a goal and adding two assists. Also, JG Pageau had three assists with Noah Dobson adding a goal and a helper.

However, the 5-4 score was rather deceptive. The Islanders dominated the game, building up a 5-1 lead early in the third period. Then, the walls started closing in. The Blackhawks scored a little over 11 minutes into the third, setting the wheels in motion.

That unleashed a push from the Blackhawks leading to Tyler Bertuzzi’s first goal of the night, making the game 5-3. While the Blackhawks deserve credit for the strong forechecking that led to a Scott Mayfield turnover, the fact is that the Islanders seemed somewhat overwhelmed by the Blackhawks’ pressure.

With the game 5-3 in the dying seconds, an unlucky bounce allowed Bertuzzi to get his second goal of the night, making the game 5-4. The goal was largely inconsequential as there were less than 10 seconds left on the clock.

The New York Islanders hung on and got the two points to tie them with the New York Rangers for fifth spot in the Metro Division, and leave the Isles one point behind the fourth-place Philadelphia Flyers.

New York Islanders narrowly avoid another disaster

The game wasn’t as close as the score would suggest. Sure, it was a one-goal game. But the Isles dominated the game long enough to where the score really didn’t matter.

Nevertheless, that’s not the whole story. The Isles were fortunate to have a four-goal lead to where two goals in the last two minutes didn’t affect the outcome. Had the game been a one-goal contest in the last two minutes, the outcome would have been much different.

So, the good news is that Isles’ offense carried them past Chicago. That’s something we haven’t seen much of this season. However, the late goals are a persistent problem.

The Islanders cannot afford to continue coughing up goals like this anymore. The team is not going to score five goals every night. So, the Islanders must finally close out games down to the final horn. Playing well for 58 minutes is not going to cut it.

Thursday night was a step in the right direction. But there’s still plenty of work to be done. The Isles must ensure that they put opponents away for good. Otherwise, the blown leads will continue to be an issue moving forward.