Recap:
The Islanders scored three third-period goals to down the Ottawa Senators 3-1 Wednesday night at Barclays Center. JF Berube made 22 saves to earn his second career victory.
Three Stars
1st Star: JF Berube (22 saves)
2nd Star: John Tavares (1G)
3rd Star: Matt Martin (GWG)
Team Notes:
• The Islanders improved to (7-1-1) at home since the All-Star Break
• Nine Islanders recorded a point in tonight’s game.
Player Notes:
• JF Berube made 11 saves in the win
• John Tavares (1G) opened the scoring for the Islanders with his team-leading 27th goal of the year.
• Shane Prince (1A) registered an assist against his former team.
• Calvin de Haan (1A) recorded a point for the second straight game.
• Brock Nelson and Matt Martin also tallied goals for New York
• Martin’s goal proved to be the game winner, his first of the season.
Jack Capuano:
On Berube’s first period save: It was a big save. It could have been the turning point of the game. You need your goalie to make big saves. He competed hard. He battled for his space. He managed the puck pretty well, and the dump-ins too. It can change, anytime you get a big save like that, it lifts your guys up. It lets them know that the guy between the pipes came to play tonight. We have to battle for him.”
On their mindset going into the second: We have to fight through that mentally. The power plays were not very good for us at all. It really can hurt the momentum and the surge that you have. Right off the bat, we had two of them and it didn’t do us any justice that we didn’t generate much. Again, we stayed with it and we came back in the second and third. I thought we played pretty well. Our penalty kill came up big when it had to and Berube did too. It’s good to get back on the winning track, especially at home and in front of our fans.”
On the goaltenders: When you have two guys, that are battling – it’s all about healthy competition. Whether it’s on your back end, or the forward position or in goal. He’s (Berube) playing well. We have faith in both guys that if they get in there they are going to help us do the job. We’ve got back-to-backs coming up again. We’ve got a lot of hockey… We’ve got to utilize our guys.”
JF Berube:
On the game: “I think we we’re going to the net more and putting bodies in front of the net. Obviously we we’re hungry. I think we played with a little bit kind of desperation out there. We were in a little bit of a slump but we trust the group we have here. Everyone trusts each other. We came out and scored three big goals in the second period then stayed tight and controlled the game after that.”
Shane Prince:
On playing his former team: “It’s exciting to play against your old team. Not only that but it was a big game for us as a team to try to bounce back after a few losses. It was a big game for us. I was happy to contribute. I tried to spark our line a little bit and try to keep things going. We’re (his line) gonna be an important part of our team down the stretch, so it’s a good start and we gotta build off it.”
John Tavares:
On Berube: “He was great all game. He was really big for us. He really did a solid job back there.”
On his goal: “We just executed a good face off play. I was fortunate enough to get a big break , a rebound from (Josh) Bailey’s shot, and I was able to put it in.”
Dave Cameron (Senators Coach):
On the game: “Real good first period. Real good night. I thought we played well on both sides of the puck. We had some real good looks, penalty kill was good. I think had we been able to get a goal there, it would have been huge. We fell behind (in the second period) and that kind of drained us a little bit. I thought we got stubborn through the neutral zone and that kind of fed the Islanders a bit. I thought we adjusted, got a goal in the third, and got a little lift but not enough.”
Erik Karlsson (Senators Captain):
On the game: “I think we started the first period well. We got two penalties against us right away and we did a great job. We had a 3-on-1, we should have scored on that rush. We had another 2-on-1 where we could have easily been up two nothing and it would have been a different game. That’s the story of our life right now, we can’t find a way to score goals. I think we created enough chances early in the game but we didn’t find a way to score them.”
