The New York Islanders needed this one after an extremely disappointing game against the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday night. There was some bad blood between the Islanders and the Stars after Mikko Rantanen knocked out Alexander Romanov for the season the last time these two teams played, but with Rantanen dealing with an injury of his own, that won’t be resolved this season.
Instead, Bo Horvat opened the scoring early and Cal Ritchie picked up the game winner early in the third, and of course Ilya
Sorokin was instrumental in keeping the Islanders in the game even as the Dallas Stars had their chances.
Matthew Schaefer’s two assists tonight further put him into legendary territory, as he scored his 53rd and 54th points of the season to pass Vladimir Malakhov’s 52 points as a rookie and tie Denis Potvin’s 54 to put him 2nd all time in rookie scoring for an Islanders defenseman. He only trails Stefan Persson, who scored 56 points in the 1977-78 season.
The scoreboard was also moderately kind to the Islanders: the Montreal Canadiens beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, but the Pittsburgh Penguins and Ottawa Senators went to a shootout that Pittsburgh won. All of that shakes out to the Islanders remaining in the second wild card spot for now, tied in points with Columbus but with an extra game played.
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First Period
Continuing the trend of the last few games, the Islanders were the more dangerous team to start early on. Emil Heineman nearly opened the scoring, but it would be Bo Horvat who made it 1-0 five minutes in on the Islanders’ second shot of the game. Matthew Schaefer picked up an assist on the goal, bringing his point total to 53 on the season.
The Islanders went to the power play after Adam Erne was called for slashing Schaefer, but the biggest chance of the power play was a shorthanded one for the Stars that Ilya Sorokin made the save on.
Dallas started to take over more in the second half of the period, but Sorokin made the saves he needed to to keep it 1-0 Islanders.
Second Period
Carson Soucy almost got one off a set up from Simon Holmström, but the pass didn’t connect by the post.
Casey Cizikas went to the box for slashing Esa Lindell, and Sorokin made a huge save on Matt Duchene to help kill the penalty.
Bo Horvat put a dangerous shot off the post and Emil Heineman had a shot saved by Jake Oettinger, and then JG Pageau missed another dangerous shot.
Wyatt Johnston took a penalty for holding Holmström, but the Isles couldn’t convert on the man advantage.
Horvat nearly set up Marc Gatcomb, but Oettinger made the save.
Third Period
Just a couple of minutes into the third, it appeared that Schaefer scored, tying Brian Leetch’s rookie record, but it actually went off Cal Ritchie’s left skate to make it 2-0.
Schaefer’s second assist of the night gave him 54 points, tying him with Denis Potvin’s rookie point total.
Thomas Harley took a holding penalty, giving the Islanders another power play, but the Stars killed it despite some good looks.
Oettinger stopped a Kyle MacLean shot cross crease, and Sorokin made a big save on Miro Heiskanen.
Then, Adam Boqvist, filling in for Tony DeAngelo, took a holding penalty, and the Islanders killed that.
Sorokin made a bunch of saves in the last 5 minutes of the period, and then the Islanders had a 3 on 1 opportunity with Dallas’ net empty, but Schaefer fell and couldn’t get it past Harley on a diving play. That set up the Stars to go the other way and Duchene scored to make it 2-1 with just under 3 minutes left.
They put Oettinger back in for a little bit, but then pulled him again, and the Islanders were able to hold on for the 2-1 win.
Up Next
Next, the Islanders host the Florida Panthers at 1pm EST on Saturday, March 28th. The Panthers, despite their pedigree, sit in 15th place in the Eastern Conference, and so the Islanders will need to pick up two points as the playoff race keeps getting tighter.
