Among the many things that were eluding the Islanders during the first three weeks of the season, not counting victories and real estate agreements, was the big save from the guys between the pipes. As the club was blowing third period leads and losing games in either regulation, overtime or shootouts, the play of both newcomers Dwayne Roloson and Martin Biron wasn’t awful, it was just missing one key element – that big stop that can turn a game around. While it certainly wasn’t fair to lay complete blame for the losses on the veteran goaltending duo, it wasn’t a stretch to think that one big stop here or there might have had the Isles out of the gate in far better shape.
Well, along comes week number four and all of a sudden the big save has become a big part of this team’s arsenal. The Isles, who at 1-4-4 were looking like they were headed into oblivion, have now won three straight (3-0-2 in their last five) over teams that had a combined record of 24-7-4.
Last Wednesday the Isles renewed the best New York/New York rivalry we have in this town as the Rangers came calling.
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Locked in a tense 1-1 game in the second period, Roloson made a huge save on Ryan Callahan at the doorstep and was stellar in the third as the Isles actually held on to a 2-1 lead. Out shot 16-7 by the Rangers in the final frame, Roloson stood tall and made big stops on Enver Lisisn and Brandon Dubinsky in the final 8 minutes to preserve the lead. A late goal by John Tavares sealed the win but the play of Roloson was the talk of the post game locker room.
“He (Roloson) was huge tonight,” said capital Doug Weight. “Particularly in the third period.” Weight didn’t have to add how that hasn’t exactly been the case very often this season.
Roloson deflected the credit, as 40 year-old veterans are inclined to do from time to time, saying, “We’ve played well, I just think trying too hard was the culprit. You can’t give any other reason why we were trying so hard … because we wanted to win so bad. We did whatever we had to do to play a solid 60 minutes.”
Two nights later in Washington, as the Isles were becoming the first NHL team to play seven overtime games before Nov. 1, it was Roloson again, standing tall against a Caps team that had won six straight. On this night he would turn away 17 shots in the third period preserving a 3-3 tie. Mark Streit made sure the club wouldn’t need any additional acrobatics from “Rollie the Goalie” in OT as he ripped a pass from JohnTavares in the slot past the Caps’ Jose Theodore early in the extra session for an inspiring 4-3 win.
“Without some of the saves he made, we wouldn’t have been in position to get a point,” Gordon said after this one. And you sensed the feeling behind the quote was that those saves simply hadn’t been there in the first three weeks.
“Rollie stood on his head — so it was a great evening,” added Streit, perhaps referring to many previous evenings that weren’t so great sans the head-standing in net.
On Saturday it was Martin Biron’s turn, and against his former mates from Buffalo no less, as another hot team took on the Isles – the 8-1-1 Sabres.
This time, instead of waiting til the third period to save the game, Biron was asked to do exactly that right after the national anthem as the Isles started this one in a bit of a fog. Three Sabre powerplays kept Biron busy and big doorstep stops on snipers Jason Pominville and Thomas Vanek kept Buffalo off the board early.
Richard Park’s late first period goal swung the momentum the Isles way in an eventual 5-0 shutout, that featured Jeff Tambellini’s first career hat trick, but Biron’s steady play was once again the key to the Isles third straight win.
“We came out of the chute and outchanced them 10-3 in the first period. That should be good enough for a 3-0 lead,” said a frustrated Sabres’ coach Lindy Ruff after he saw his team’s five game winning streak snapped. “The only disappointing part was the offense part of it. Unfortunately, we couldn’t crack Marty.”
For Biron the shutout was his first since February 25th as a member of the Philadelphia Flyers.
“We found the way we want to play and how we can respond against good teams,” Biron said. “I think everybody is starting to understand each other a little bit better.” And perhaps, more importantly, beginning to understand that their goalies can make the big stop when called upon.
This current three game winning streak has the team playing .500 hockey at 4-4-5 and it’s no coincidence that the number one star each night was awarded to the guy with the heavy leg pads, big stick and mask. The first time Islander goalies have been involved in the three star selection this season.
Ice Chips:
Tambellini’s father Steve, former Islander and current Edmonton Oilers GM, was in attendance and got to see his son’s hat trick. The Isles will host the elder Tambellini’s Oilers tonight at the Coliseum. Speaking of the younger Tambellini, with six goals in his last five games the 25-year-old forward is on the tear of his young career. Just how much of a tear, you ask? Well, he had bagged just 11 goals in his first 143 NHL games before this current scoring streak. We’d call that a tear. Gordon had benched Tambellini for few games earlier and the kid has responded nicely.
Big week for unheralded winger Richard Park, though not on the score sheet, but the 33-year old’s smarts, tenacity and on ice leadership were certainly huge factors in all three victories. He is skating more like a 23 year-old.
Several brawls broke out at the Islander/Ranger game last Wednesday shortly after the Isles scored late in the third to take a 3-1 lead. What a shame to have that kind of juvenile behavior mar what was such a terrific hockey game. Memo to fans: Don’t turn New York into Philadelphia, okay. We’re better than that.
Some very disappointing attendance figures at eth Coliseum last week. A rare non-sellout for an Islander/Ranger game (15,213) and only 8,889 for the Saturday game against Buffalo. While I’m sure the World Series played a role in the low numbers let’s hope the team’s inspired play of late gets a few more fannies in the seats this week.
Busy schedule for the Isles this week as they host Edmonton at the Coliseum tonight then hit the road for games with Buffalo on Wednesday and New Jersey on Friday before coming back to Nassau to play Atlanta on Saturday.
Keep the faith James – the future looks brighter than it has in years.
There’s some serious talent on that roster and while you can’t really expect much this year, I think they can be a force down the road.
And they aren’t going anywhere – they’ll be right here on L.I. for a long, long, long time.
I love the Islanders.
But the writing is on the wall.