Bo Horvats overtime winner lifts Islanders to statement win over Devils
That’s more like it. Three shutouts in six games was the stat that told everything about the Islanders, the stat they were carrying around like a backpack going into Newark on Friday to face the upstart Devils and the stat it took them all of 83 seconds to make sure would not become four in seven. The early story of this season is shaping up to be that if the Islanders can put the puck in the net, they win.They have at least a point in every game in which they haven’t been shut out, and they picked up two more on Friday when Bo Horvat’s overtime winner vaulted them to a 4-3 win over the Devils, which comes before Florida visits Long Island Saturday on a back-to-back. The Islanders led 3-2 entering the final 20 minutes after Kyle Palmieri tipped in Alexander Romanov’s one-timer at 11:28 of the second, but the hostilities on either side had risen after a Kurtis MacDermid open-ice hit took off Romanov’s helmet earlier in the period. The Islanders have lost leads late on Prudential Center ice before.
This was by no means assured, particularly as their defensive structure showed some cracks in the second, with Curtis Lazar having tied the game at two for New Jersey and Ilya Sorokin having prevented it from being tied at three with stops on Dawson Mercer and Jack Hughes following reckless Islander giveaways. This had all the makings of the kind of hang-on-tight third period the Islanders have played too often the last couple seasons — most of them ending poorly — and right down to the end, that’s what it looked like. The Devils even obliged with a five-on-six goal with 1:29 to go, as Jesper Bratt banged the puck in after Noah Dobson lost it off his stick in the low slot.That tied the game at three and gave everyone flashbacks from last season, when the Islanders lost the lead in a similar spot, then lost the game before regulation ended. In that all-too-familiar spot, though, the Islanders took a left turn.
They had yet to get a winner in three tr...