There have been a couple noteworthy notches on measuring stick this season for the Islanders, but this one has to rank up there with the most impressive. If not atop the list.
The Predators came into Thursday night's game at the Coliseum as the best team in the league — the most points, the most consistent, the best goalie, the list goes on. And then the Isles got out to an early lead, held off the surges, and ran away in the third period to pick up a decisive 5-2 win.
"When you play a team that's had success like this, it's a chance to see where you measure up against them," Isles coach Jack Capuano said before the game. "That's what we want to do here."
The Islanders (39-19-1) opened the third up just 3-2, but got that back-breaking goal 7:02 in from defenseman Nick Leddy, as he joined the rush, took a great pass from Colin McDonald, and buried a high wrist shot passed Vezina Trophy front-runner Pekka Rinne for a 4-2 lead.
The sellout Coliseum crowd had to wait just 1:39 for the insurance goal, coming from Josh Bailey on a neat little tuck-in at the left post, watching as Rinne unintentionally slid back and pushed it in, continuing his tough night and giving the Isles the three-goal lead.
It was only on Monday night the Isles suffered a dramatic 6-5 loss to the Rangers, blowing three two-goal leads. But they bounced back with an assertive road game, winning 4-1 in Raleigh, N.C., on Tuesday, the first of this now-two-game winning streak.
The Predators (39-13-6) came in having won six in a row, eight of their past nine, and — well, they were the top team in the NHL, so in the first year of guidance from former Islanders' coach Peter Laviolette, they've been winning a lot.
"He's had success, he's won a Cup, he's done real well for himself," said Capuano, who played summer hockey in Rhode Island with Laviolette as teenagers in 1980s. "He's a good man, a good family guy, and like I said, I'm glad he's got the opportunity now."
The second period was mostly dominated by the Islanders — yet after Thomas Hickey and Leddy both hit pipes, they just couldn't separate themselves. Instead, after an unsuccessful power play, it was the Predators who came back and cut the lead to 3-2 on a great one-timer from James Neal, making it a one-goal game going into the third.
"Our guys have done a good job here of really competing every night," Laviolette had said, "and I guess that's the biggest compliment I can pay them."
The Islanders went down to 11 forwards with 11:21 still remaining in the first when Eric Nystrom — son of Islanders great Bobby Nystrom — leveled Mikhail Grabovski with a clean shoulder-on-shoulder hit.
Grabovski hit his head on the ice, and stayed down, hardly moving, long enough for the stretcher to come out. But he left under his own power, and didn't return, the team calling it just an "upper-body injury."
Maybe his loss was a little easier to take because the Isles left the period up 3-1, getting on the board just 1:00 in when defenseman Brian Strait got one to beat Rinne between his legs. It was followed up at 10:10, when Johnny Boychuk got his sixth of the season on a long slap shot to make it 2-0. Then the lead grew to 3-0 with just over two minutes remaining in the first when John Tavares got his 29th of the season, a Leddy shot from the point getting blocked and landing right on the captain's stick for quick one-timer.
The Predators managed to get one from terrific rookie Filip Forsberg, his 20th of the season on a falling-over shot through traffic with just 17.2 seconds remaining, taking that 3-1 score into the second.
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