Islanders News: Some good old-fashioned home cooking

It was so good it got the other team’s coach fired.

Hey, the New York Islanders held a third-period lead! And won a home game in regulation! Sound the alarms!

The St. Louis Blues were so shocked and distraught at this turn of events, unable to come back against the team that everyone comes back against and in the building everyone comes back in, that they woke up this morning and fired their coach.

Islanders News

About last night:

• Not blowing the lead certainly wasn’t for lack of trying because the Islanders gave up a power play goal in the first minute of the third and then were on their heels for the next ten minutes, but they held on and added an empty-netter to snuff out any potential goals in the final 30 seconds. [LHH]

• Kyle Palmieri scored two of the three Islander goals. [THN]
• A regulation win was a good way to follow up the disastrous end to the road trip. Also, they earned the win in their Hockey Fights Cancer game. [Islanders]
• More important was that they extended their lead twice for insurance against the Blues’ third-period goal. [NY Post]
• Holding the lead was a good sign; hopefully, they can keep it up. But part of getting that down is figuring out the damn penalty kill: “The Blues’ only goal came on their only power play; the Isles have allowed nine goals in sixteen times short at home this season.” That’s a success rate below 50%, which, in my opinion, is bad. [NYI Skinny]

“All 8-year-old Henry Schafer wanted, having completed treatments at Cohen Children’s Medical Center in Queens after battling leukemia for more than three years, was for Brock Nelson, his favorite player, to score a goal on Hockey Fights Cancer Night.” [Newsday]

• Much like Paul O’Neill hitting two home runs in that episode of Seinfeld, Nelson came through with the game-winning goal and two assists. [NY Post]

Maybe about last night but not about the game:

• Here are all the ways the Islanders celebrated and supported Hockey Fights Cancer Night. [Islanders]
• The Islanders believe that the pucks are going to start dropping again. They certainly need them to start hitting the back of the net (or just across the goal line, we’re not picky!). Also, they started a stretch of eight of 11 at home, and they need to turn UBS Arena into an advantage. [Newsday]
• Ilya Sorokin, who was excellent again, finally earned that elusive 100th career NHL win. It took five attempts, although due to little or no fault of his own. [THN]
• It was a milestone night for Nelson, too: His three points passed Bob Bourne on the list and put him in a tie with John Tonelli for the ninth-most points as an Islander. [THN]

Elsewhere

There were 15 games in the NHL last night, with all but the Toronto Maple Leafs and Anaheim Ducks in action. Yesterday’s scores include the Rangers getting demolished by the Oilers and the Devils hanging on against the Capitals.

• Also, Sidney Crosby finally scored his 600th goal, and the Pens cleared the bench to celebrate, which I guess is the new thing; it was the only Pittsburgh goal in a 6-1 annihilation at home against the Utah Hockey Club. Oops! [NHL]
• The big news today is that the Blues, after last night’s game, relieved Drew Bannister of his duties to hire the recently fired Jim Montgomery. [NHL]
• Montgomery was dismissed as coach of the Dallas Stars for professional misconduct, which was his wakeup call to enter rehab; when he got out, the Blues gave him another chance, making him an assistant. Now he returns to St. Louis on a five-year contract, perhaps out of some sense of mutual loyalty or obligation. [Sportsnet]
• Kirby Dach, who you might remember from the Alex Romanov series of transactions, has struggled mightily returning from an ACL injury. [Sportsnet]