Shuffling the deck hasn’t solved the Islanders’ problems yet, but it provided a step in the right direction.
With a severely changed lineup by head coach Barry Trotz, the Islanders snapped a two-game losing streak with a 3-2 shootout triumph over the Florida Panthers on Saturday night.
Brock Nelson provided the lone shootout goal on either side as New York goalie Semyon Varlamov recorded his first win with the Islanders after signing in free agency over the summer, making 35 saves.
“The win tastes great,” Varlamov said. “I’m very excited, very happy especially after two losses, we needed this win.”
His heroics were just enough to get the Islanders over the line on Saturday night as the team is averaging less than three goals per game during the early portions of the 2019-20 season. Fresh off a 5-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday night still fresh, Trotz opted to shake things up.
“Today we had a meeting and said ‘hey, we have to stay with it,'” Trotz said. “We didn’t focus on the outcome. We just focused on the process.”
With Casey Cizikas not playing due to a lower-body injury, Trotz moved Cal Clutterbuck up to the second line alongside Anthony Beauvillier and Brock Nelson.
He moved Josh Bailey down to the third line, as well as Michael Dal Colle, while Tom Kuhnhackl and Ross Johnston centered Leo Komarov on the fourth line.
Johnston, a pound-for-pound replacement for Martin, made his presence felt off the scoresheet with a convincing win during a third-period fight with Panthers defenseman Josh Brown.
Early returns on the tweaked lineup weren’t necessarily good. Denis Maglin’s one-time goal a little more than five minutes into the game put the Islanders down in an early hole, one they wouldn’t climb out of until the second.
Lee put the Islanders on the board 5:40 into the second thanks to the magic of Mathew Barzal. Weaving his way to the back of the Panthers’ goal, Barzal occupied the attention of four Florida defenders, only to bullet a pass to Lee by the left circle where he finished with a one-time effort.
“[Barzal] just put it in a good spot for me and [Ross Johnston] had a great screen in front,” Lee said. “Just another example of Barzy’s patience and poise.”
With 2:29 left in the second, Bailey put the Islanders ahead when he snapped a wrister over Montembeault’s shoulder.
“We had a great second period,” Trotz said. “We got back to Islander hockey, we had all our lines going.”
The Islanders reverted to their defensive ways to try and close things out, but overwhelming Panthers pressure struck paydirt with 6:02 left in the game to force overtime on an Evgenii Dadonov wrister.
After both sides failed to score in overtime, Varlamov closed the door on all three Panthers in the shootout to preserve Nelson’s opening strike on Montembeault.
“I thought it was really good for Varly,” Trotz said of his goalie. “Any time you come to a new team, you want to get that win, especially when you’re a goaltender. He made some big saves for us and, obviously, in the shootout, he was outstanding… he’s a real pro.”
