NY Islanders: 5 moments from Alexander Romanov you’ll love

Romanov's first playoff goal

Romanov didn't get a ton of playing time during the Canadiens' Stanley Cup run in the 2021 NHL playoffs. He did, however, make the most of his time when he was in the lineup. The Canadiens trailed the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-0 in the Stanley Cup Final and then head coach Dominique Ducharme was looking to shake things up by inserting Romanov into the lineup for the first time in three weeks.

Game 4 was at the Bell Centre, and the Canadiens were on the brink of elimination. Tied at one goal each in the third period, Jake Evans intercepts an attempted clear from behind the net by Andrei Vasilevskiy along the boards. Romanov just steps onto the ice and into the play when Evans throws the intercepted puck to the blue line where Romanov retrieves it. Romanov handles the puck at the blue line from the boards, and with his head up the whole time, Romanov display's patience with the puck on his stick until a shooting lane opens, flicks a wrist shot toward Vasilevskiy, and with traffic in front of the Lightning goaltender, the puck beats him high stick-side.

The impressive thing about Romanov's first career NHL playoff goal was not that it came on a seven-second shift. It was his ability to retrieve the puck at the blue line, maintain zone control, and find an open shooting lane from far out all while his head was up reading the ice in front of him. Pucks on net is always a good thing and you hope he can find more of that with the Islanders.