NEW YORK _ There was relief all around the Islanders dressing room. In one corner, Andrew Ladd and Jason Chimera finally could exhale after scoring their first goals as Islanders in their 13th games with the club.
And everywhere else it was a breath of fresh air to be the team to break a tie in the third period and finish strong. Cal Clutterbuck's backhand past Canucks goaltender Ryan Miller broke a tie with 10:49 to go and Ladd's first 1:39 later sealed a much-needed 4-2 Islanders win.
"People don't ask how it happened for you at the end, we just have to start getting two points every time we're in position to do that," Thomas Hickey said. "That's what good teams do, that's what playoff teams do."
The 5-6-2 record does not reflect the way the Isles feel about their game as they finished a stretch of 10 home games out of 11 total going 5-3-2 at Barclays Center, with Monday's win coming against a hapless Vancouver squad that is 0-8-1 in its last nine after winning the first four of the season.
But for a team that has expectations for itself, the Islanders can't take any solace in lost points. The Lightning drubbed them 6-1 a week ago and the Isles followed with shootout losses to the Flyers and Oilers, both games the Isles led. Despite getting only 12 points in 13 games, the Islanders have held a lead or been tied in the third period in all but two games this season.
"We've had some pretty good trust in the way we've played," said Clutterbuck, who was elevated to John Tavares' right side on Saturday and has points in two straight after needing 15 stitches inside his upper lip to close a horrific gash from Thursday's game. "It's just about sticking with the plan and not worrying about the result. Worrying about results gets you scored on in the final few minutes of a game."
Daniel Sedin picked Shane Prince's pocket and beat Jaroslav Halak 4:22 into the game to put the Isles behind, but Chimera jammed home a nicely batted puck from Anders Lee to tie it at 9:42.
The Isles took the lead at 7:38 of the second on Nikolay Kulemin's first of the year but gave that edge back on Markus Granlund's power-play goal, the 10th man-advantage score the Islanders have allowed in the last seven games. So, for the fifth time in the last seven games, the Islanders were tied entering the third. They were 0-2-2 in the other four.
But Clutterbuck was in the right spot to collect the rebound of Johnny Boychuk's shot and put the Isles in front. And Ladd blasted a one-timer from the point to get that crucial two-goal edge as well as well as a smile on the ice.
"It's big for Jason and me, getting that good feeling that you can put a puck on net and it goes in," Ladd said. "We got two points, we can still shore up some areas but it's what we needed."
