Islanders secure needed two points but Noah Dobson injury overshadows OT win
Two points was the first and foremost priority for the Islanders on Thursday, and they checked that box.
Still, despite the celebratory atmosphere after Kyle Palmieri’s overtime winner, the first-period loss of Noah Dobson is hanging like a shadow over the 3-2 overtime victory over Montreal after the star defenseman left the game just more than five minutes into the proceedings and did not return.
“We’ll have a better idea [Friday] how things are,” coach Patrick Roy said, adding that Dobson suffered an upper-body injury.
The Islanders hold a win streak that is now at six games and counting and their playoff chances are ticking up and up, but the threat of Dobson’s missing any time at this critical juncture of the season is nothing short of a five-alarm fire for a team that has seen the young defenseman ascend into stardom this season.
Just a handful of hours before puck drop, Roy rolled out a litany of Hall of Famers and Stanley Cup winners in comparison to Dobson, who became the first Isles defenseman since Denis Potvin to reach 60 assists in a season Tuesday night.
So whether the Islanders won Thursday, an injury to Dobson was going to overshadow it.
“It kind of affected our power play,” Roy said after the unit went 0-for-4 without its first-string quarterback. “But you don’t want to lose someone that early, especially a defenseman. We played five [defensemen], [Sebastian Aho] came in and he played a great game and I thought all the guys did a really nice job taking those minutes.”
Dobson or not, this turned into another gritty victory for a team that has found a penchant for such wins just in the nick of time to save their season.
The Islanders entered the final period having controlled much of the five-on-five play against a team that beat them in the first two meetings this season, but with only a 1-1 draw to show for it.
The familiar notes of disaster sounded for the Islanders 3:42 into the third, starting when Matt Martin blocked Juraj Slafkovsky’s one-timer and struggled to get up.
Meanwhile, during the ensuing scramble, Cole Caufield got the puck through Semyon Varlamov’s five hole for a 2-1 lead, after which Martin joined Dobson in the dressing room.
But at least on the ice, the Islanders were not going to let this one spiral. Casey Cizikas tied the game in short order, with a backhand wraparound after Adam Pelech missed the net.
The failures to convert on the power play cost the Islanders the chance to win in regulation, but they made up for that at three-on-three, with Palmieri roofing the game-winner from a sharp angle.
Martin, by the end of the game, had returned to the bench as well, shaking off the pain of the blocked shot.
Disaster averted. Sort of.
“It’s a good feeling,” Palmieri said. “We battled. … We built our game and just stayed with it. Just found a way.”
For much of the night, the Islanders imposed their will on a Montreal side that is playing for nothing and started Thursday in 15th place in the Eastern Conference.
But the Habs ultimately struck first on Jordan Harris’ slap shot from above the right circle, which beat Varlamov through traffic at the 17:58 mark of the first period.
That lead did not last long, with Pierre Engvall’s wrister tying things up at the 5:17 mark of the second — the highlight of an excellent performance from the winger.
The Islanders suffered through the third period before Palmieri found the winner.
This, like the five wins that preceded it, ended up being a tribute to the Islanders’ ability to get two points even when not everything was going right.
They even got some long-delayed licks in on Brendan Gallagher, who was suspended five games after elbowing Adam Pelech in the head the last time these teams met, when Jean-Gabriel Pageau stepped up to fight the defenseman in the second period.
“J-G’s an unbelievable teammate. Great teammate,” Pelech said. “So I appreciate it, but I also think it was at a time in the game where we needed a little pick-me-up and he provided that for the guys.”
With the Islanders at 89 points and looking pretty good in the race after the Capitals lost to Buffalo — making the Penguins their closest competition with 86 points following their overtime win over Detroit — they should be feeling nothing but good.
Dobson’s going down, though, could change that equation. And if he misses time, it certainly hurts their chances of finishing the job.
