2013: back in the fight
By Zach Weinstock
As the 2012-13 season was winding down, a chant was heating up inside Nassau Coliseum.
“We want play-offs! We want play-offs!”
After five years without going to the postseason, Islanders fans were pretty vocal about their desire for playoff hockey, with chants picking up steam in early April.
No one wanted it more than the young, homegrown core, who were scrapping their way through the lockout-shortened 48-game season, looking to cross a major checkpoint in their collective development.
A playoff berth was anything but assured, as the Islanders were 13-15-3 on March 22, sitting in 12th place in the Eastern Conference approximately two-thirds into the shortened season. Typically teams out of the playoff race by the quarter-pole have slim chances of qualifying. A group with lesser character would have started making summer plans, but the Islanders’ belief did not waver. Instead, they caught fire in the second half of the abbreviated campaign.
The Islanders went 11-2-4 in the final 17 games of the regular season, spring-boarding themselves into a playoff position for the first time since 2007. From April 1 to 23, the Islanders rattled off an 11-game point streak (8-0-3), clinching a playoff berth on the 23rd in a 4-3 shootout loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. It was fitting that the Islanders needed a late rally to tie the score and force OT against the Hurricanes to clinch, indicative of their late-season comeback as a whole.
While it was a full-team effort to turn the Islanders fortunes around, they were led by the very players developed in the rebuild. John Tavares led the team with 14 points (10G, 4A) in the frantic 17-game finish, while Frans Nielsen (13 points), Kyle Okposo (12 points) and Josh Bailey (11 points) all stepped up their production. Even Anders Lee, then a fresh-faced rookie who only played two games, contributed, scoring a goal on his first-career shot in his NHL debut.
The other key factor was the superb play of veteran goalie Evgeni Nabokov, who at 37 years old turned back the clock for one last dominant run. Nabokov started 15 of the Islanders’ final 17 games, going 10-1-4 with a 1.75 GAA, a .930 save percentage and a shutout. Nabokov was stopping more than just pucks. He also put a halt to the goalie carousel that had been hampering the Islanders ever since injuries derailed Rick DiPietro’s career. The wily Russian gave the Islanders stability in net, as well as a veteran presence on a young team -- someone who wasn’t afraid to approach the bench to offer advice or read the riot act, like he had during a TV timeout in rousing comeback win in Montreal that season.
“It’s real important to have a guy like him back there,” Head Coach Jack Capuano said of the 37-year-old goaltender. “Nabby to me is one of those guys who is almost an extension of our coaching staff.”
Tavares’ 47 points (28G, 19A) in 48 games earned him a third-place finish for the Hart Trophy (league MVP), but Nabokov’s strong play all season could have made him the team MVP.
Qualifying for the postseason was an important step for the rebuilding Islanders. For 16 players, including Tavares, Bailey, Nielsen, Okposo, Casey Cizikas, Matt Martin and more, this marked their first trip to the playoffs.
As the East’s eighth seed, the Islanders drew the high-powered Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round. The inexperienced Islanders learned the hard way about the escalation of playoff hockey, as Pittsburgh skated to a 5-0 win in Game One. When the Islanders fell behind 2-0 four minutes into Game Two, it appeared that their first trip to the playoffs in six years was going to be a quick one, but the Islanders proved to have some fight in them.
Down 3-1 in the second period, Okposo took exception to a Matt Niskanen hit on Matt Moulson. Okposo stood up for his teammate, dropping the gloves with Niskanen before connecting with a right cross that cut the Penguins defenseman just below his eye. Okposo’s scrap sparked the Islanders, who scored 14 seconds later, en route to a 4-3 comeback win. Fittingly, Okposo scored the game-winner.
The series shifted to Long Island, where fans lined up around the Coliseum to get into the afternoon affair in Game Three. The building rumbled for its first playoff action in six years when the Islanders came out and took an early lead. The Islanders dropped the game 5-4 in OT, but not without first rallying out of a two-goal hole in the third period, true to the never-say-die spirit of the season.
The Islanders evened up the series in Game Four, beating the Penguins 6-4 on a trio of three-point games from captain Mark Streit, Cizikas and Brad Boyes. The offensive outburst officially put a scare into the Penguins, who turned to backup goalie Tomas Vokoun for Game Five instead of Marc-Andre Fleury.
The Penguins’ goalie change proved to be kryptonite for the upstart Islanders, as the veteran Czech netminder shut out the Isles 4-0 in Game Five. Vokoun was in net for the Game Six clincher, as the Islanders’ inspiring season ended with a 4-3 OT loss at the Coliseum.
The Islanders wanted playoffs in 2013 and they got them. The series against the Penguins was formative experience for the young squad, who took an important step forward just by qualifying for the postseason. It was also a sign that the Islanders rebuild was heading in the right direction and the pain and patience of previous six years was finally starting to pay off.