After making the playoffs despite suffering 16 losses in overtime or the shootout last season, nobody needs to remind the New York Islanders how valuable every point can be in the NHL.
Despite losing two straight contests, the Islanders will look to extend their point streak to five games on Thursday night when they continue a five-game trip by visiting the Vancouver Canucks.
Both teams were off Wednesday after playing the previous night, when the Islanders fell to the Edmonton Oilers 4-3 in overtime and the Canucks recorded a 3-1 win over the visiting Calgary Flames.
The Islanders had little chance Tuesday in overtime, when they were outshot 4-0. Bo Horvat, Simon Holmstrom and defenseman Ryan Pulock were on the ice for more than a minute before Leon Draisaitl entered in a shift change, swooped into the New York zone and scored at 1:52 of overtime.
“There’s nights where, going home, you’re (ticked) off,” Islanders coach Patrick Roy said. “There’s nights you’re going home and you say ‘OK, we stole a point.’ Tonight that was the case. By the end I think we were just gassed.”
But captain Anders Lee’s two goals in the third ensured New York would extend its point streak to four games (2-0-2). The Islanders enter Thursday’s game with an NHL-high four “loser points” after collecting a league-leading 16 such points last season, when they lost to Carolina in the first round of the playoffs.
The 16 losses in overtime or the shootout were the most for a playoff team since the Florida Panthers won the Southeast Division with a 38-26-18 record in 2011-12.
“We pick up points while we’re missing a lot of guys,” Roy said of the Islanders, who have first-liners Mathew Barzal and Anthony Duclair and defenseman Adam Pelech on injured reserve. “We should gain confidence because we’re playing good hockey.”
The Canucks also have enjoyed a confidence-boosting stretch following a rough start. Vancouver is 8-2-1 since an 0-1-2 start in which it was outscored 13-8.
The Canucks continued to thrive while playing from behind Tuesday, when they outshot the Flames 12-9 in the first but ended the period trailing 1-0. Justin Kirkland put back the rebound of a shot by Kevin Rooney that glanced off the stick of Vancouver defenseman Quinn Hughes.
Elias Pettersson and Pius Suter scored in the first three minutes of the second, when Vancouver outshot Calgary 14-7.
“Really took over in the second period,” said Canucks center J.T. Miller, who assisted on both goals in the second period. “I thought we just did a good job of executing the game plan and put it down their throat.”
Vancouver has given up the first goal in eight straight games, a span in which the team is 5-2-1. The Canucks have mounted comebacks in five of their eight wins this season.
“Sometimes it happens,” Miller said. “It’s 60 minutes, and you’d like to start with the lead, but I thought we had a lot of chances right before their goal. And obviously that’s a fluky one, so we’re not going to worry about it.”
