Maybe this isn't exactly the way the Islanders imagined Jaroslav Halak getting his name into the franchise history books. But with an ugly game in which the goalie only saw 18 shots, he tied Billy Smith with his 10th consecutive win, an ugly 3-2 overtime victory over the Senators at the Coliseum on Tuesday night.
Halak wasn't tested very much, but did make the requisite stops as Thomas Hickey's wraparound went in off the skate of Cody Ceci to stand as the game-winner, 3:06 into the extra frame.
"He's taken total advantage of the opportunity," coach Jack Capuano told the team's website concerning Halak before the game. "At the start of the year, he was a guy that put a little too much pressure on himself. After talking with him, being in the right frame of mind, relaxing and coming to the work everyday, enjoying himself, his play has picked up and been much better."
The Islanders (18-7-0) were coming off a stellar performance from Halak on Saturday, when he made 34 saves in a 3-1 win over the Devils. That was the Isles' 11th win in the past 13 games, and had them going into Tuesday night neck-and-neck with the Penguins atop the Metropolitan division.
They were neck-and-neck with the Senators (10-9-5) in this one going into the third, and needed just 1:07 into the period for Ryan Strome to give them the go-ahead goal. With a 4-on-4 having just expired, Hickey jammed the puck through goalie Craig Anderson, and as it rolled along the goal line, Strome batted it in for the 2-1 advantage.
Yet that was negated when Clarke MacArthur took advantage of a great takeaway and feed from Mark Stone, tying it 2-2 with just over eight minutes remaining in regulation.
"You just want to keep building off of the good things," John Tavares said. "You don't ever want to be satisfied. You want to find the areas you can be better in and there are certainly a few. We know that we have the talent in here, but we can't lose the work ethic, attention to detail."
Ottawa looked rather slow all night, as it was on the final leg of a five-game road trip, having lost three of the first four, including a 4-1 loss at Tampa Bay on Saturday night. This was the second game in row the Senators played without top scorer Bobby Ryan, out with a finger injury.
The game and the building were utterly lifeless through the first half of the game, with both teams struggling to maintain possession and sustain any sort of pressure. Yet with just under two minutes remaining in the second, Ceci mishandled the puck at his own blue line, springing Brock Nelson on a breakaway. Lifting a wrist shot over Anderson's right shoulder, Nelson tied the game, 1-1. Then Casey Cizikas took a falling-down 50-footer as the final seconds of the period wound down, and it slipped through Anderson's glove — and crossed the goal line less than a second after the horn had sounded.
Yet the two plays woke up the sleepy Coliseum crowd, taking a tie game into the third.
The Senators had been staked to that 1-0 lead midway through the first, when Mike Hoffman had a long slap shot beat Halak on his glove side, one the goalie sure would have liked back.
Top-pair defenseman Travis Hamonic took a huge hit from Chris Neil early in the third period, and although he came back once, didn't finish the game. …Fourth-line winger Cal Clutterbuck also left the game midway through the second period with an apparent injury. He came back and left, as well.
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