Isles 3
Panthers 3
SUNRISE, Fla. – There’s no question, no doubt and no disbelief in Islander Country that the current five-game road trip, continuing tonight against the division-leading Lightning and concluding Saturday afternoon at the Garden against the Rangers, is critical.
Sure, the c-word has been used liberally this year. But should the Islanders not be able to get back on track – which they took a baby step in doing last night in a 3-3 tie against the Panthers – GM Mike Milbury will be forced to shake up this team significantly before Thanksgiving.
And we’re not talking sending a couple of rookies to Bridgeport and recalling journeymen or other young players from the farm, as has been the case in previous weeks.
We’re talking paint mixer-type shakeups that would surely involve a trade for the sake of doing something, anything.
So the Isles, who came into last night’s game three points out of last place in the entire league, got one last night in a game they should have gotten two.
They were whistled for calls, mostly in the second period, that were not called later in the game, and they had plenty of chances to win, not tie, the game.
“I’m not satisfied with the results,” coach Peter Laviolette said.
Instead of running away with it, the Isles fought to tie it after trailing 3-2 after 40 minutes and refused to down-shift their hard work for a minute against a team that had lost to Atlanta a night earlier.
The Islanders fought for ice, fought for points and fought for each other, all positive signs for a team in dire need of all of the above.
“I liked the way we played the game,” Laviolette said, though he did not like the way the game was called as the Isles spent most of the middle period in the penalty box.
Claude Lapointe opened the scoring, Alexei Yashin beat Florida backup goalie Jani Hurme on the Isles’ first power play from – where else? – the left circle, and Kenny Jonsson tied it with a slapper off Dmitry Yushkevich’s skate early in the third.
And there was Michael Peca, the captain, flexing his hockey muscle for the first time really this season. He was hitting, skating, and was strong when he wrestled the puck from Jay Bouwmeester along the boards to assist (his first point of the year) on Lapointe’s stuff-in, 1:29 into the game.
He also landed his fiercest hit thus far when he blasted Ivan Majesky, just the first glimpse of the Islanders’ no-nonsense approach to the game that saw them play with passion and the usual dose of nastiness against the Panthers.