Thursday's 5-4 overtime win over St. Louis showed the other side of it. New Jersey led 4-1 after a 3-goal 2nd period. Then it gave up 3 in the 3rd, including goals from Philip Broberg and Dalibor Dvorsky 18 seconds apart, before Jesper Bratt won it 1:26 into overtime. Hellebuyck's record is spotless, but his .891 save percentage says the wins haven't all been his doing. The blue line is still missing Seamus Casey, who is on injured reserve after a knee procedure.
The Islanders spent the week counting bodies, and the count didn't go their way. Mathew Barzal (knee), Ryan Pulock (upper body) and Matias Maccelli (lower body) all practiced for the first time this season on Wednesday in non-contact jerseys, and none of them is available Saturday. Barzal is still on non-roster injured reserve and hasn't made his season debut after re-aggravating the knee before camp. Calum Ritchie (lower body) is out too. So is Alexander Romanov, who is on IR, which means Pete DeBoer's defense is without both Pulock and Romanov against the hottest offense he's seen in weeks.
Thursday's 5-3 loss to Carolina dropped New York to 7-6-2, and it looked a lot like the rest of the Isles' season. They were down 2-0 after 1 and scored 3 straight in the 2nd behind Brayden Schenn, Mitchell Chaffee and Victor Eklund. Then they got nothing in the 3rd. The game before that was a 4-0 loss to Edmonton with a season-low 18 shots on net. When the Islanders get going they can score in bunches. They just haven't kept it going for a full 60 minutes.
Puck drop is 7:00 PM ET in Elmont. Both teams played Thursday, so both had Friday off and neither has a rest edge. On paper it's New Jersey's top line and an unbeaten goalie against an Islanders team without its best center and 2 regular defensemen. The Isles' best shot is the habit the Devils showed against St. Louis: a 3rd period where they stop defending and start drifting. If New York is within 1 going into the final 20 minutes, the St. Louis tape says that matters.
