You might want to hold off just a little bit on bashing Lou Lamoriello’s summer signings.
Some of the newest faces featured by the New York Islanders played a big part in the team’s surprising and dominating 4-0 victory over the San Jose Sharks, an early favorite to represent the Western Conference in the Stanley Cup Final, on Monday afternoon.
In his regular-season debut for the Islanders, goaltender Robin Lehner shut out the high-powered Sharks, saving all 35 shots he faced. It was a triumphant return to the crease for the 27-year-old, who made headlines during the offseason when he revealed his battles with ADHD, bipolar disorder and substance abuse.
“I was a little bit nervous in the beginning, to be honest,” Lehner said. “It felt real good to be back in the game again, doing what I love, perfectly healthy. I feel better than I ever have and it’s the start of a new chapter with a new team in a new city and I’m looking forward to it.”
The defense in front of him was pretty strong as well, especially the Islanders penalty kill, which kept the Sharks off the board on four power plays. Against a special teams unit that now features Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson, it was quite a feat that the Islanders were able to do that, especially after a 2017-18 season in which they had one of the worst penalty kill percentages in three decades. But the signings of Valtteri Filppula and Leo Komarov have proven to be vital as the Islanders have killed all eight penalties they’ve faced this season.
“I thought the defense helped me with rebounds, I don’t think there were as many today,” Lehner said. “It’s a hell of a power play unit over there and I think we got in front of shots and boxed out real well. Everyone paid a price and it worked out real well.”
While the defense was stingy, the offense was efficient. New captain Anders Lee gave the Islanders the lead with five minutes left in the second period on the power play as the left winger cleaned up the rebound left by goalie Martin Jones off a Josh Bailey one-timer.
Scott Mayfield, who replaced Luca Sbisa and made his season debut on Monday, doubled the lead five minutes into the third period thanks to an effective forecheck by Cal Clutterbuck, who used a big hit to create a turnover in the Sharks zone before Casey Cizikas worked the puck to the defenseman, whose screened shots glanced off the shoulder of Jones and into the back of the net.
Eight minutes later, a Filppula forecheck saw the veteran forward win the puck in the corner behind the Sharks goal while both teams changed before feeding a wide-open Matt Martin, who had a moment to settle the puck and fire a wrister blocker side past Jones for his first goal with the Islanders since 2016.
“It’s always fun to score,” Martin admitted. “We played hard and we grinded it out.”
The fan favorite spent the past two seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs before the Islanders traded for him over the summer.
His linemate Cizikas put the exclamation point on the dominant win with an empty-netter in the final minute. It was the Islanders’ 30th shot of the game, which was just six shots fewer than what the Sharks allowed over their first two games of the season.
