ST. LOUIS — The Islanders’ best game of this four-game trip required the largest lift to turn into two points.
At the end of it, though, Mat Barzal’s game-winner had gotten Brayden Schenn a 4-3 overtime win over the Blues in his first game back at the Enterprise Center and secured a vital two points after roaring back down 3-0 in an impressive show of resilience.
While the Islanders had never looked out of this one, save perhaps for the brief minute where the score was 4-0 before Patrick Roy won a challenge for offside, it did very much appear that this would be a night where their demons would win out, even as they controlled the run of play most of the way.
They’d gone into the third trailing 3-1, with Jean-Gabriel Pageau having scored late in the second to put a dent in a three-goal deficit, and were handed a huge opportunity 5:03 into the third when Pavel Buchnevich’s high stick drew blood on Cal Ritchie.
Poetically, Ritchie scored just 49 seconds into the four-minute double minor, the puck slowly trickling over the line off a scramble in the crease.
Fifty-nine seconds later, it was a tie game as Bo Horvat put one in from the slot.
The Islanders have not had many games this year in which their power play could be leaned upon.
But there is no time like the present, and those two goals were enough to send this into overtime, and there is no place where the Islanders are more comfortable than three-on-three.
They’re now a ridiculous 10-0 on games that end in OT, as Barzal ripped in a shot to end it.
The night seemed to get away from the Islanders during the few minutes on either side of the game’s midpoint.
With St. Louis leading 1-0, Dylan Holloway rocketed a shot top shelf from the right circle at 9:10 of the period.
Just 1:37 later, a defensive breakdown around the crease gave Jimmy Snuggerud an easy tap-in off Robert Thomas’ feed, with both Carson Soucy and Cal Ritchie caught nowhere near the play, making it 3-0.
Though the Islanders had dominated the shot count, they’d also failed to capitalize early on. Their lack of traffic in Joel Hofer’s crease and failure to control the area around Ilya Sorokin’s looked like it would be a decisive factor.
What ended up mattering more were the same qualities the Isles have leaned on all season: their never-say-die resilience and ability to raise their game when it matters most.
And, it may have helped a little that they started playing around the crease too.
The top line finished with solid numbers, but was caught out on an early two-on-one rush that ended with Snuggerud feeding Philip Broberg at the backdoor to open the Blues’ account on their first shot of the night.
Brayden Schenn’s first game back in St. Louis was memorable mainly for his emotional reaction to a tribute video at the first TV timeout, pointing to his heart while acknowledging the crowd.
Max Shabanov, who was inserted into the lineup for the first time since Jan. 30, had a solid night, as Anthony Duclair was scratched.
The Islanders, who have been on the road nonstop since the NHL returned from the Olympic break, finally get two in a row on Long Island starting Friday, and with it a chance for a breather, or at least what passes as one amid the league’s schedule crunch.
They’ll do so with the wind at their backs.