The New York Islanders went up against a desperate, desperate Ottawa Senators team on Thursday night, and that ultimately was their downfall in a 3-2 loss.
From the moment Senators captain Brady Tkachuk asked Islanders captain Anders Lee to fight, you knew just how badly Ottawa wanted to get the energy flowing.
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While the Islanders found themselves with a lead twice, Ottawa’s desperation fueled comebacks before a will for two points saw Tkachuk smack home the winning goal with 11.1 seconds in regulation. The result wasn’t a shock. That doesn’t make it any less devastating.
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The Islanders were playing for overtime, given how critical just one point was to staying in a playoff spot.
The Senators needed two.
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And they played like it.
“Maybe a little bit of just trying to hang in there and get a point and get to overtime,” Islanders forward Mathew Barzal said postgame. “Credit to them. Tonight was a must-win for them, and they showed it.”
Ottawa outshot the Islanders 11-1 in the third period.
Brayden Schenn’s goal at the 2:02 mark of the third period was the only shot of the frame. The Islanders’ shelling up rather than playing aggressively is something we saw more often over the last few seasons, but rarely this season. There’s a difference between sitting back and being forced to.
Last Saturday, in the Islanders’ 3-2 win over the Calgary Flames, they were under siege for most of the third period but held on to the lead.
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That’s a big difference from being tied. The Islanders learned a valuable lesson: Desperate times call for desperate measures, and Ottawa took a chance by being aggressive throughout the third period and in the dying seconds, when they could have easily killed the clock for a game-deciding one-point lead, with the chance for two.
Over the next 13 games, they can’t be outmatched desperation-wise.
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