How 'Gutsy' Win Over Buffalo Could Turn Islanders Season Around

BUFFALO --  Once the final horn sounded in Columbus on Wednesday to signify their third straight loss, all the New York Islanders were focused on was getting back out there on Friday against the Buffalo Sabres.

Despite the offensive struggles, Patrick Roy and his team continued to take the positive approach, knowing that their play should yield results and that if they stuck with it, they would succeed.

It was a glass-half-full approach, the only real one you could have as an athlete and a coach when things are going south.

But things went from bad to worse on Friday morning when the team announced that star forward Mathew Barzal was headed back to Long Island early to get an upper-body injury evaluated by team doctors.

Related: Islanders Mathew Barzal Headed Back To Long Island With Upper-Body Injury, Timeline TBD

After losing Anthony Duclair on Oct. 19 to a lower-body injury that would require 4-6 weeks to recover, losing Barzal was a tough blow despite his struggles this season.

In his absence, Roy had to mix up a lineup that was already getting thrown in a blender a few times a period, with offensive production on his mind.

He went with these lines against Buffalo:

Although the lineup clearly had flaws, given their injuries, it was the best Roy could field.

Spoiler alert: That lineup rose to the occasion.

Trailing 1-0 at 9:03 of the first period after the struggling penalty kill allowed one to Jake Cozens, Bo Horvat's quick answer just 40 seconds later allowed the Islanders to take a breath.

But early in the second period, penalty trouble put New York in a tough spot, a 5-on-3 man advantage for Buffalo after two penalties in the opening three minutes of the middle frame.

The Islanders penalty kill, which entered the game 7-for-7 on the road, was 1-for-2 at that point.

In a game where the Sabres had all the momentum, looking for that go-ahead mark, the Islanders and goalie Ilya Sorokin came through victorious, killing off both penalties while allowing a total of two shots.

The successful PK allowed the Islanders to eventually score the second and third goals of the game, with Maxim Tsyplakov and Kyle Palmieri getting on the board. This put New York up 3-1 with 7:40 to play in the second.

"I think that actually brought a lot of confidence to our group," Roy said on the penalty kill's play. The first [power-play] goal we gave up was the first goal against on the road since the start of the season. So I'm very, very happy that we killed those penalties, especially on the road, and it was nice to see that the team stayed focused, regardless of the fact that we gave up one."

Just when the Islanders were looking great, things changed in a jiffy.

First, defenseman Alexander Romanov, who was just returning from an upper-body injury after missing three games, went back to the room at the 5:32 mark following a big hit from Sabres forward Jordan Greenway.

Less than two minutes later, Adam Pelech took a puck to the face, leaving the game at the 7:07 mark, never to return.

A tad over two minutes after that, at 9:14 of the second, Mike Reilly went head-first to the ice after another hit by Greenway, leading to a scary scene at KeyBank Center.

The stretcher had to come out on the ice, but Reilly, a few minutes later, sat up, eventually being helped off the ice by trainers and teammates, missing the remainder of the game.

Related: Islanders Lose Mike Reilly In Second Period Against Buffalo After Scary Scene

Thankfully for the Islanders, Reilly was alert and talking. During the injury timeout, Romanov was able to return to the ice.

Down to four defensemen, the Islanders battled harder than we had seen all season, bending but not breaking.

After allowing a Jason Zucker goal to make it a 3-2 game before the six-minute mark of the third, the Islanders new top line answered a few minutes later to give the team a two-goal cushion, courtesy of Jean-Gabriel Pageau.

Panic ensued with the Sabres net empty in the final few minutes, with Owen Power cutting the game to 4-3 at the 18:59 mark of the third.

But, with all the pressure in the world, the shorthanded Islanders found a way, snapping their three-game skid.

"We needed this game," Roy said. We've been playing so well. I know it doesn't mean much, but we played well against that. We play well against Columbus, so I wasn't surprised to see us playing the way we played tonight. It was a great team effort."

This team has always had a next-man-up mentality mentally, but on the ice, the Islanders struggled to counteract the Anthony Duclair loss.

But if the team was going to overcome Mathew Barzal's loss, Roy needed to see someone take charge.

That person was Bo Horvat, who had a goal and an assist for his first multi-point performance of the season, winning 10 of 15 face-offs (66.7%) in 20:54 TOI.  With Horvat going, so did his line.

"Bo took charge. He was outstanding out there," Roy said. "Pageau, it was a solid game. Sorokin, on the 5-on-6, made a couple of great saves for us. The Nelson line...everybody played really well."

Related: Shorthanded Islanders Take Care Of Business, Beat Buffalo Sabres 4-3

But the story of the game wasn't the struggling offense, which scored four goals, but the shorthanded defense battling through almost half a game down two men.

Romanov played 23:52, Dobson played 24:55, Ryan Pulock played 25:21, and Scott Mayfield played 21:27.

"They finished the game with four defensemen, and they managed that ice. And it was pretty impressive, especially the way they handled this at the end of the game," Roy said.

"I could go on and on about these guys," Horvat added about the blueliners. "They want to win, and you need guys to do that if you want to win in this league. And we've got a lot of warriors on our team, and a lot of guys that have stepped up, and Romanov definitely was one of those guys."

After the game, The Hockey News asked Romanov about returning to the game despite not being 100 percent.

"I can't just leave my teammates with three defensemen," Romanov said."I can't do that. I watched in medical room and saw two guys were hurt. I can't just leave them."

Gutsy.

"That was a gutsy win by everybody, and we said it before the game. Guys are going to have to step up when guys go down. And did we ever tonight," Horvat said. "There are so many guys who not only play really well and get on the score sheet but also put their bodies on the line. And definitely, it wasn't an easy game for the defense back there, but it shows the character of this team. We found a way."

How were they able to defy the odds and snag the two points with all the injuries?

"We didn't change the way we wanted to play the entire night," Horvat said. "Obviously, we scored, which was definitely a help. But we didn't get flustered when they made it 3-2, and we kept pressing. Knowing we had guys go down, and we never stopped. There's a lot of character in this room to step up in different ways. Barzal goes down, and guys get injured, and different guys step up at different times. It's says a lot about our group."

While no one ended up fighting Greenway for his actions in the game, the Islanders showed a response. Oliver Wahlstrom, back in the lineup after a three-game scratch stint, fought Jake Zucker after he got cross-checked.

Pageau got tangled up with Sabres left winger Beck Malenstyn before Horvat jumped in.

The Islanders ended the game with 18 hits and 23 blocks.

Not only was this win a must, but it could also serve as a monumental point in the early goings of the season.

It's how the team plays going forward that will dictate just how important this win was.

They face their cross-town rival, New York Rangers, on Sunday at Madison Square Garden, a team that's won 6-of-8.

Then, they host the Pittsburgh Penguins (4-7-1) on Tuesday and head to Ottawa to face the Senators (5-5-0) on Thursday before wrapping up their week with a Saturday showdown at UBS Arena against the New Jersey Devils (7-5-2).

The Islanders had a chance to flip their season around earlier in the week, but they lost to the Anaheim Ducks and Blue Jackets.

Can they flip the script, build on their gutsiest win of the season, and overcome their injuries game by game to find success?

They’ll have to do it without Barzal, Duclair, Reilly and Pulock, not an easy task at all.