For the second straight game, Mark Streit had a nose for the goal when the team needed it. He scored the winner in OT leading the Islanders to a 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings at Nassau Coliseum on Saturday afternoon.
Streit took on four Kings and backhanded the winner through the legs of Jonathan Quick at 1:36 of overtime.
“It’s certainly not a goal I score every day,” Streit said. “I was going against four guys and I didn’t really know what to do. I tried to go through them and luckily enough it worked out.”
Streit now has goals in two straight games and says he’s starting to feel comfortable on a daily basis again.
“It took me a while to adjust,” Streit said. “I was away for a year and a half. The first forty games were kind of a bumpy ride. Lately it’s been way better. It’s starting to come back together again.”
Michael Grabner ended an eight-game goal drought, sliding in a Mark Eaton rebound at 6:52 of the first period. Grabner wrestled himself out of a scramble at the ideal time to calmly slide the puck by Quick.
The Kings evened up the score at 5:20 of the second period as a Dustin Brown shot deflected off of Andrei Loktionov and passed Nabokov. Both goalies were solid in the low-scoring affair. Nabokov stopped 34 while Quick turned aside 23, many of them quality opportunities.
“Nabby made some huge saves out there,” Matt Moulson said. “He’s got a lot of wins in this league, and that’s not for no reason. He’s a great goaltender in the clutch. You have a lot of confidence when your goalies are playing well.”
After being outshot 12-4 in the second period, a motivational speech from Assistant Coach Doug Weight gave the team life before the third.
“Dougie Weight said, ‘February, March, April, June, nothing’s pretty,” Moulson said. “Even though Streiter’s was a pretty goal, we got the win.”
The afternoon affair was a physical battle, as both teams threw caution and bodies to the wind. The Islanders recorded 48 hits to the Kings 41 and even Quick threw a hit after the whistle on PA Parenteau. Matt Martin appeared to be a casualty after leaving the ice early in the third, but came back to an ovation from the 13,079 in attendance.
Before the game, former Islanders captain Kenny Jonsson was inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame. Jonsson was the eighth captain in team history and represented the Islanders at the 1999 NHL All-Star Game. The soft-spoken Swedish defenseman was the fourth Islander to be inducted this year as a part of the Isles 40th anniversary season.
The Islanders get right back to game action tomorrow afternoon with a 3 p.m. contest against the Florida Panthers. The Panthers were also in action Saturday afternoon in New Jersey, winning 3-1.
Print
