It was a scary one thanks to a couple of mistakes -- now isn't that familiar? -- but the New York Islanders pulled out the 3-2 overtime win over the New Jersey Devils, thanks in large part to two key goals fro captain John Tavares.
Here is a sampling of post-game clips and quotes via the official team site.
First: the Hero, John Tavares
From the clip above, Tavares spoke of the approach tonight:
They always play pretty well defensively. They're one of those teams that don't give you a whole lot. And we just stayed with it and finally came through. Just kept shooting pucks and finally it paid off.
And on the OT winner, where Tavares stripped Adam Larsson and swooped in front for the goal:
I knew, I don't think he had a sense of where the pressure was coming from, where his guys were, so I just got a jump on him and saw an opportunity to strip him. I saw Cal coming in late, but their guy didn't really commit to me, so I just took it to the net and hit the far side.
On Bouncing Back after Two Losses
Yeah, I thought, maybe we're not absolutely taking it to teams lately, but it's part of that time of year, teams are battling hard, division games and being on the road.
We played a pretty good game, we didn't give them a whole lot. Their goals were a few of our errors, easy fixes. Not things they really did a whole lot of to put us in that position. So we did a good job defensively, gave ourselves a chance, and finally came through.
Capuano on Comeback, the Halak Mixup, Strait, Team Character
Jack Capuano had much more to say in this clip (lots on "12 and 21 and 91" playing really well), some of which we excerpted below.
On the Support of 'Traveling' Islanders Fans in Newark
It's great. Obviously we've been away for a while, but we always talk about it. Just because we're in New Jersey you can still feel it. You can feel the energy on the bench to especially when 44 takes that shot and it finds the back of the net, you can sense that guys were up, they were into it and determined to get the next one.
On the Halak Gaffe Behind the Net
It's something we work on all the time with our goalie touches, it's part of our breakout, execution-wise. I thought tonight, I could sense a little bit as it came around, it was right outside that trapezoid area. It was one of those pucks where he had to wait a little bit of time or else get that two-minute minor.
But I don't worry about it too much, it's something we'll continue to practice on. And really it's communication. I did hear our D talking, which was a good thing. But I just think it was one of those slow rollers where he had a tough play to make.
On Brian Strait Playing for the First Time Since Dec. 11
I thought he was excellent. It's tough when you haven't played for a while and you go in.. He had a couple of passes that he was frustrated with turnovers. But overall his defense, his gap, his skating, his jumping into the play, he came in and gave us really good minutes tonight.
On the Comeback, Resiliency after the Devils' 2nd Goal
It's big for our team. I've said all along, it's a different team than we've been the last few years. We've got a lot of character, leadership, accountability. Like I said, I could feel it: We were generating. We were getting good zone time, We were getting shots to the net. To me it was just a matter of time.
Calvin of Haan: 'Hockey's a Funny Game
Finally, Calvin de Haan, who assisted on Josh Bailey's tying goal and John Tavares's OT winner:
De Haan on the game overall:
We bounced back. Obviously their one goal was kind of flukey. Okie's stick broke, otherwise we'd have had the clear there. Hockey's a weird game like that, but we showed we were resilient. We got the two points, and that's the most important part.
On Tavares heroics: Nice to see your best player be your best player?
Of course. He's world-class. We rely on him for a lot of offense, and tonight he got us a couple of key goals at key times.
Feel good to rebound after the last two losses?
Of course. Especially after the last two efforts we had, you know we didn't play a full 60 those two. But tonight I thought we played well. We stuck to the game plan throughout, and got the two points.