Good Morning, Islanders Country.
The Islanders needed that, but more specifically, two players needed that - Josh Bailey and Anthony Beauvillier. You can’t say the Islanders were the better team; you might not even be able to say they played well. But behind two of their most maligned players, they found a way - in the third period yet again, to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat and pick up their first win in Toronto since December 29, 2018 (the Mathew Barzal hat trick game).
During the course of the season, there will be games where you play well and don’t get points, but there will also be games like last night when everyone in the building knew the Islanders didn’t deserve to steal a point, let alone two. The Islanders haven’t hit their stride, far from it, but behind great goaltending, keep picking up enough points to buy themselves more time to figure it out.
Coming up, Lane Lambert makes multiple lineup changes, and Cal Clutterbuck makes hits history. Plus, Mathew Barzal talks about his former captain, Darius Kasparaitis gets ‘the great one’ and a sweet moment for a Metro rival too good not to share.
Let’s dive in.
🏒 IN SHORT: Anthony Beauvillier snapped his scoreless drought in a big way, scoring the game-winner at 1:56 of overtime to lift the Islanders to a 3-2 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Monday. Josh Bailey tied the game at 17:02 of the third period with an unassisted goal, his fourth of the season. Noah Dobson added his sixth of the season, and Ilya Sorokin made 30 saves for the Islanders (12-8-0), who had lost the previous two games. John Tavares and Auston Matthews each scored for Toronto (10-5-5). Mitchell Marner had an assist to extend his point streak to 13 games, and Erik Kallgren made 21 saves in the defeat.
KEY MOMENT(s):
🔶 Down 2-1 in the third period, Ilya Sorokin made several key saves, none bigger than robbing Mitch Marner on the power-play at the left post.
🔷 After being scratched twice on the road trip, Josh Bailey came up huge with less than three minutes to go in the third period. Leafs goaltender Erik Källgren turned the puck over, and Bailey showed great patience to wait for a shooting lane and score from the right circle to tie the game at 2-2.
🔶 At 1:56 of overtime, Brock Nelson dropped a pass for Anthony Beauvillier, who came into the zone with speed and scored on a wrist shot from the left face-off dot that beat Kallgren glove side for the win.
3 REACTIONS
❶ GRIND IT OUT: "It's just sticking with it," said Bailey. "I think we're all a little bit tired. We've been on the road for a little while and it's part of playing in this league and you just have to grind it out some nights and we just stuck with it. We're fortunate to find a way to win."
❷ DIDN’T DESERVE IT: "We probably didn't really deserve two points tonight, but it is what it is, just one of those games where you just have to be patient have to bear down on your chances," said Beauvillier. "Wins are wins and when points come like that we're definitely going to take it and get out of here."
❸ NOT OUR STYLE: "When you've lost a couple it could be easy to just kind of pack it in," Clutterbuck said. "But it's never really been our style."
⏭ NEXT UP: The Islanders return home on Thanksgiving Eve to take on Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers at UBS Arena. Face Off is 7:30 PM ET.
📊 STANDINGS:
📰 NEWS: Islanders head coach Lane Lambert shuffled most of the deck before the game against the Maple Leafs, changing two lines and two defense pairs. On the blue line, the team’s two most offensive defensemen, Noah Dobson and Sebastian Aho, were paired together and produced a goal in the first period.
Alexander Romanov and Scott Mayfield were together while the Pelech-Pulock pair stayed in place. Up front, Mathew Barzal centered Anders Lee and Oliver Wahlstrom while previously struggling Josh Bailey, and Anthony Beauvillier skated alongside Brock Nelson. "Just to try and spark [something]," Lambert said after the game. "We change up the forward lines, so the pairs are no different. We needed a little bit of spark. There were some things about it I liked."
Cal Clutterbuck set the NHL's all-time hits record (3,635), passing Dustin Brown (3,632) after collecting nine hits in Monday’s win. It’s a stat that has only been recorded since 2005-06, and while some might downplay the significance, it’s a record you can only break if you have enough talent, toughness, and tenacity to stick to a physical game night in and night out.
◾️PROUD: "I guess one thing is that not many guys have records," Clutterbuck said. "The thing I'm most proud of is it's probably a record of longevity and consistency. And you know, it's just something that I'm proud of, I guess. It's something that it's a little bit of a validation of the amount of work I've kind of put into it and the consistency which I've been able to go out there and do it with.”
📰 OLD NEWS: Former Islanders captain John Tavares is in his fifth season with the Maple Leafs (he skated in his 300th game with the team on Monday), but each time the Isles visit Toronto, the sub-plot is still there, although diminished from the previous seasons. Before Monday night’s game, it was Mathew Barzal asked to comment on his former teammate during the 2017-18 season.
◾️ SUCH A COMPETITOR: “Johnny’s well-liked in this locker room, and he was an awesome captain for my first year when he was there,” Barzal said. “It’s just fun to compete against him. He’s such a competitor and really is like one of the most focused guys I’ve ever seen.”
◾️ EXTREMELY CONTAGIOUS: “I don’t think that he changes wherever he goes. He’s always authentic, and I think that’s what I really liked about him as well,” Barzal said. “You get Johnny at all times.” “He was a great leader. And like I said, his work ethic was extremely contagious.”
📚 SOUND SMART: Per Eric Hornick in The Skinny, the Isles improve to 4-6-0 when trailing after two periods; they are tied for the NHL lead with four third-period comeback wins. With their win tonight, the Isles are guaranteed to be in a playoff spot at US Thanksgiving. The Isles have scored three overtime goals on four shots on goal; Toronto has allowed five overtime goals on twelve shots For Anthony Beauvillier, it was his fifth career O.T. goal in the regular season.
🗓 THIS DATE IN ISLANDERS HISTORY: On November 22, 1995, the Islanders snapped a five-game home winless streak with a 5-2 win over Wayne Gretzky and the Los Angeles Kings at the Nassau Coliseum. Darius Kasparaitis broke a 1-1 tie 26 seconds into the third period when he hip-checked “The Great One” along the boards, forcing a turnover. Kings’ goaltender Kelly Hrudey stopped Travis Green’s shot, but Kasparaitis converted the rebound for the lead.
The goal followed a rather hilarious interview during the intermission between Kasparaitis and Stan Fischler, with the Islanders’ defenseman explaining why it’s so hard to hit Gretzky.
“'I finished my check on Gretzky and saw the opportunity to help, so I jumped into the play,' Kasparaitis said. 'I saw the puck and tried to put it high; I was surprised it went in.” The game was also memorable for a scary moment. Defenseman Dennis Vaske was hit from behind by Eric Lacroix in the third period and was taken off the ice on a stretcher.
🎧 Eyes on Isles Podcast: Beau-tiful Disaster: Joe Buono (@IslesFix) and permanent recurring guest Andy Francess (@AndyFrancess) react to Anthony Beauvillier, and Josh Bailey being the heroes in the Islanders' 3-2 OT win in Toronto on Monday Night.
🔗 Islanders' Cal Clutterbuck closing in on NHL hits record: 'It's part of my job' by Andrew Gross, Newsday “Cal Clutterbuck watched the rather large media scrum develop around his locker stall at Scotiabank Arena and wondered why out loud. Simple answer: Because the Islanders right wing is on the cusp of setting an NHL record, albeit one in which the statistic has only been kept since the 2005-06 season.”
🔗 LeBrun: Lou Lamoriello on the end with the Maple Leafs, the Islanders’ coaching change and more by Pierre LeBrun “Barry and I talk often,” Lamoriello said. “He’s a tremendous human being. You know, sometimes it’s very difficult to change the whole team, you know what I’m saying? It’s no disrespect whatsoever. I think Barry understands that. … You never look back, but I felt it was the right thing under the right circumstances. Certainly nothing personal in any way.”
And we leave you with this ….it’s ok that we give you non-Islanders content when it involved a kid bringing tears to his hockey star dad before the game, right?
Evgeni Malkin played in his 1,000th game, and his son Nikita was in the dressing room to read out the starting lineup before the game.
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Bailey is our best player at converting goals when the other teams' goalie makes a mistake with the puck on his stick.
I was at the game on 11/22/95 - my Mom got me very good tickets for my birthday, so good that we ended up the background of 2 pictures in the Pride and Passion book that Chris Botta (and maybe others) wrote around the 25th anniversary season. Gretzky was in at least one, if not both of the pictures. That hit on Vaske was nasty. Pretty sure he would get more than 5 games even if he did that now.
.....I think Noah READ my Comment from yesterday.....LOL
.....do realize I may suggest HERESY with this notion, but - maybe it's time to FORGIVE Johnny; at least a LITTLE, anyhow - beginning to appear MORE well-rounded as a human being, and I wasn't ever thrilled with just HOW much vitriol he got (NOR the way his departure went down, EITHER.....)
.....happy for both Bails & Beauvie; yeah, both their days may be numbered but, always LIKED them regardless.....