The Islanders knew that as long as they maintained the pressure they mounted through the first 40 minutes on Saturday afternoon, they would get the result they wanted.
Even after surrendering the first goal of the game in the closing minutes of the second period despite holding an overwhelming shot advantage, New York felt the hockey karma scales would tip back in its favor as long as it stayed the course.
Those scales certainly tipped, and then some, in a four-goal third period to earn a critical two points in a tight playoff race.
Zach Parise buried the equalizer with just over two minutes burned off the third period clock, Anders Lee logged two goals, and the Islanders owned the final 20 minutes of play at UBS Arena to take down the Red Wings 4-1, denying one of many teams chasing them in the standings of a valuable victory.
“We really just continued with our game from the first 40 [minutes],” Lee said. “It was working. We were getting our looks. If we kept on that and didn’t waver from that and try to do too much, we should be okay.”
It didn’t always look like New York would cruise. In the closing minutes of the second, with Bo Horvat serving his second penalty of the period, Josh Bailey nearly had a shorthanded goal when his shot from between the circles went just wide, and on the other end, Dylan Larkin took a feed from the point by Moritz Seider and flicked in an up-close shot inside the far post to give the Red Wings a 1-0 lead heading into the third period, despite trailing 25-12 in the shots on goal department.
The Islanders finally broke through in the third period when Parise ended a drought of his own. A shot from the point that was turned aside by Hellberg came right to Parise, who roofed a shot past Hellberg to end his six-game goal drought, and get New York on the board in the opening minutes of the period.
After dominating puck possession and scoring chances for two periods and having nothing to show for it, Parise’s goal helped open the gates for the Islanders. Moments after Parise started the scoring, a shot from the point by Hudson Fasching was tipped in by Lee, his 23rd of the season, to suddenly turn a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead.
The surge continued as New York put things away on the power play with 4:19 left in the third, as a blast from the point by Noah Dobson found its way through a screen and past Hellberg to give the Islanders a 3-1 lead. With the floodgates officially wide open, a turnover in the neutral zone by Detroit led to another goal for Lee before Dobson’s goal was finished being announced over the speakers inside UBS Arena, capping a dominant third period from start to finish after the previous period ended in deflating fashion.
“We just couldn’t break through in the first two periods,” head coach Lane Lambert said. “But give our guys credit, they kept with it and pushed through in the third.”
Detroit didn’t log a shot on goal until eight minutes into the first period but held the advantage heading into the third. But the Red Wings could only fight off the relentless Islanders pressure for so long. Now, New York will hope it can finish what Detroit couldn’t on Saturday, and continue to hold off several teams looking to hunt them down in the Wild Card race.
“We need wins, that’s the bottom line,” Lambert said. “Doing it while being down going into the third period is even bigger.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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