New York Islanders Postgame Availability | NYI vs COL (12/04/25)

New York Islanders Postgame Availability | NYI vs COL (12/04/25)

I mean, I think in the third we knew uh I can’t remember if it was 4-2 or 4-1 coming in after two. Um we knew that this game wasn’t over and that we had to put a push on. So, um it we couldn’t let up at all. I mean, they they put a couple shifts together uh a lot of times in these games and put two goals in. So, you know, didn’t start the third with that with that goal the way we wanted, but I thought we settled right back in and it got right back to our game, which is sign of maturity, I think, a little bit. and from our group and uh not letting not letting things get to us. Knock off two really good teams last games. How important is it to end the home stand like this? No, it was great. I think it was it was fun. It was a fun night. Uh it was obviously great to have Brock in the building and um the fans support him, but then have a good crowd on our end because of it. You know, we got our our dads and mentors here and uh we close out the the home stand with, you know, four points uh going into a tough couple down south. So, uh, let’s take that confidence and this momentum down there and continue to roll. Not sure if you know this, but you actually tied Brock for fifth in goals all time tonight. Just I guess getting fifth and then also tying Brock. What did both those mean to you? It’s special. You know, we played a lot of hockey together. Got a lot of great memories together and um, uh, been through a lot and the whole deal of spending this much time together and being able to grow up a little bit on the island here and all that stuff. It was uh it’s been a special run and uh to tie it up tonight was great. Uh was hoping to maybe get one more. What I mean this obviously I mean you know already the headlines are out that you guys beat them in in regulation for only the second time but they’ve lost the regulation this season. Is this a bit of a statement win for you guys? You think I think it’s just um it’s a culmination of the hockey that I think we’ve been playing of late. I think, you know, we’ve been playing some pretty good hockey and they haven’t necessarily gotten the results and complete uh the last little bit at on the beginning of this home stand, but uh we put a full game together. You have to put a full game together to play these guys and and get a win. And um everyone was great tonight. I really thought up and down the lineup uh we we just had strong efforts. No, that’s a that’s a really good hockey team over there. They’ve proved it all all season. And um they’re never out of game, so you got to you got to complete it. you got to play a full 60 and you got to do the right things because uh they’re so deadly off the rush. They’re they’re waiting for um those turnovers and and those quick uh counters and that’s where they uh can catch you. So, thought we did a good job of managing the puck. Our D had great gaps and um when we needed a big save, we got it. What went into that that third period defensively? It seemed like you were really able to to slow them down in the neutral zone just stopped them from entering the zone a lot. Yeah, I I think everyone’s, you know, everyone knew what um what we needed to accomplish in that third and uh you know, we worked out as a group of five on whoever was out there and I think that was the biggest thing. Like I said, uh we we limited the turnovers, we got pucks in deep, we made them come a full 200 and um I I think that was the biggest thing. We just we just played a solid game. And then just defending six on four there, you know, I mean, what’s the mentality to to get through that like that? It’s, you know, get the job done. Um, we have a lot of belief in in our group and uh, you know, we we got some really big blocks and that that was I think that was the key. Guys were willing to put themselves in front of pucks and and uh, you know, battle that thing out and I I can’t say it enough. When you need a save, we got it. You know, Sri was unbelievable tonight and um, you know, he uh, he won us that game. And just what was it like for you guys on the bench to see sort of the love that Brock was getting from the uh, from the crowd? I mean, that’s, you know, it’s what he’s done for this organization or sorry, what he did for this organization. Um, you know, it, you know, you can’t put it into words. Um, you know, he he embraced what it meant to be an Islander and, um, you know, he deserved every single second of that. He’s, he’s a great person. He’s an unbelievable hockey player and, uh, you know, it’s, uh, it was nice to see that. Was it I know he was even killed through. Was it was it an emotional for you guys to watch that? Yeah. I mean, you know, it’s that’s that’s the tough part about, you know, our our sport, I guess, or any sport is uh you know, you you you play together for so long and, you know, you grow up together, you you have families at the same time, your kids grow up together, and um those things are tough that that when guys um when guys leave it, it’s tough, but uh at the end of the day, you got to remember it’s a business and um you know, that’s kind of the I don’t know the part about it, but you know, you create long uh you create uh friendships for the rest of your life. And um you know like I I you know what he meant to this to this organization um what he meant to Long Island. You can’t put into words cuz he gave it he gave it his all every single night um every single shift and uh yeah I can’t say enough good things about him. What did the back-toback wins you know on this home stand mean for this team as far as moving ahead in confidence and quality opponents you guys beat? Yeah I mean obviously it we didn’t get off to the start we wanted on this home stand. Um, but we did play good hockey in my opinion. Uh, and and to get to these uh, you know, to get back wins and uh, it’s definitely big for for the club, for the guys in here and um, you know, we got to keep it rolling. That is a heck of a win. Take us through it. I mean, uh, feel like just a good game over like the whole whole 60 minutes. I mean, best team in the league comes in here. Um, and I thought we just hung in there the whole game and buried our chances. something that, you know, probably cost us a game or two, you know, in the last week or so, but we buried tonight and it’s a huge win for our group. Down the home stand with these two wins, Tampa and this, how big is that for this? Yeah, I mean, anytime Tampa and Colorado come in, I mean, you know, those are tough games on the year. I feel like you get back get one back on the field when you beat those guys. So, um, yeah, just a huge win for us. Good, good, confident, uh, win for us tonight. You know, what do you think maybe unlocked in the offense tonight that maybe wasn’t there at the beginning of the road trip or home stand? You know what? I I feel like it was the exact same as the games in the past. It’s just a matter of the puck going in the net. So, created some great offense, I think, in the last two weeks and ran into a hot goalie post. I don’t know what what it was, but they’re bound to go in. So, I’m glad they did tonight. defensively in that third period. Just what what was important to it seemed like you guys were denying them a lot at the blue line and what was kind of important? Yeah, we just we just played a stingy third period. I think you know they come out, they score, make it a two-goal game and we just kind of locked it down, made sure that you know we had a good F3 all night. Um weren’t giving oddman rushes and those guys kind of feast off those. So, um and then just kind of marking their D that like to get up the rush. I think that was huge. you know, having a game like this in front of the dads just, you know, what’s that mean to you guys know? And I think your dad was sitting with Andrew’s dad in the crowd when you guys hooked up. Oh, yeah. No, it’s special to have them here. Um, they put so much time and effort when we were younger, you know, so many car rides and everything. So, it’s always a blast to have them here. They just they just bring a lot of energy and uh we’re going to have some fun on the road. Patrick, your team got off to a good start tonight and and never took their foot off the gas pedal, it looked like. Yeah, we played a really good game. Um, we talked after the first period that we gave a little too many shots, but I thought we um, we scored those goals. We were moving the puck well offensively and um, the four lines were outstanding. I mean, the Casey line was to me, I mean, uh, don’t take anything away from a Bo or Barsy or even to Richie, but they played so hard and they spent so much time. It was fun. They were fun to watch. That’s a dangerous team. You had two huge penalty kills in the third period. Yes. Yes. I mean the the the four and six I mean again a power play like this. Are you kidding me? I mean that was it was outstanding with the job the guys did and they sacrificed their body for the the team and and then find a way to win. Um, it was impressive and when we gave some scoring chance, Ilia made those saves and I mean I guess that’s how you you win was very impressive and our guys deserve a lot of credit for kept McKinnon away from the the sheet two games in a row. It’s it’s pretty impressive. I’m assuming you were pretty happy with the neutral zone play and limiting their speed. What was what was the key to that? because you had emphasized it going into the game. Yeah, that that was part of our our our meeting uh today. Uh we talked with the D this morning about it and tonight before the game and and the guys were really good. I mean, we’ve been playing really well in a neutral zone, forced teams to to dump the puck in, but the key is not just force them to dump. And I think what brings a lot of confidence to the group is how we break out. And the way that we break out so good, uh, I think helps our our guys to be so confident and then we’re coming back in our zone as a unit of five and we we get that puck out. It’s, um, I think it’s their part of their our success in the in the neutral zone. But our D play really well right now. I mean, our D’s are, you know, they squeeze and then uh, force those, you know, them to to puck deep and and not giving them the the chance to pick up their speed. And that was part of it. When did you find out um Jonathan Drew was not going to be available? And just after warmup. Yeah. Yeah. After warm up. He’s he’s going to be day to day. He’s going to be on the trip and lower back and and hopes lower body and that. Yeah. You’re welcome. I’m sorry. I hope I’m not going to lose my job over this. Well, actually, congrats on the 200th victory. Yeah, thank you very much. I didn’t even know about it. I mean, Lizzy gave me the puck after the game and it was a bit of a um a surprise and um the focus was to play against the best team in the NHL and and they had only one loss and as like I said to them before the game, I mean, I believe that if there’s a team that could surprise them, it’s us. and and the way we’ve been playing uh we’re playing really good hockey lately and and um I think in that home stand we finished 500 33 and one um I felt like we could have been easily I mean above 500 and and our guys deserve a lot of credit. Did uh did did Jordan hurt himself in warm-up or was that something he had No, I think he just woke up with that. Okay. And um the way the lower body injury you mean? Yeah, exactly. the um the way Ciplov played kind of jumping onto that line. What what did you see in in his game? He did a lot of good things. I mean, I thought that uh um I thought that he support the rush. He made some good good plays offensively. The the only area where I would like to see Sepe a little stronger, it’s on the wall, get the puck out of his own, but other than this, he played a really good game. And did you see anything different from Barzal today just in terms of how maybe decisive he was with with the puck on his stick? Um he was outstanding tonight. I would say this. I mean the goal that he scored that was it was a highlight goal. I mean um and the pass he made too lazy. I mean um I felt like he was he was um he was on his game and and and and you could tell when Barzy played well defensively. it for some reason it it helps you know his rush and and it gets the puck faster and get into the rush and and generate that’s how he scored actually the first goal I mean the pass across that he made to too lazy I mean but he had a strong game I mean I I will say this you don’t beat the best team in NHL if you don’t play if everybody’s playing not playing a hard game and strong game you talk about there not being any moral victories to beat not just Colorado tonight but Tampa the other night and the home stands. How important is that especially going forward now hitting the road? It was huge because I mean come on you know we were one three and one. I mean the and and going into those games I mean uh confidence could have been affected and that’s exact it’s the opposite that happened. I mean the guys stood up stand up and stood up. Yeah. And and then they did a really nice job. I mean we we we play against two strong team I think Tampa was on a seven uh seven in a row. Colorado was on a big big run as well. So, I mean, it’s nice to to show up against teams like this and and prove to oursel that that we are and a strong team and and that’s why we’ve been talking a lot about, you know, like presence and and and and I think that’s what our guys are learning and that’s what our guys are doing really well right now. We stay in the present moment and we show presence. What did you make of GChome coming back in the lineup? It’s been a while. It was outstanding. I mean, I told I told you the line was outstanding. I mean, Casey, I was so happy to see Casey be rewarded with that empty netter at the end. I mean, he played so well, but I mean, that line, I mean, they they were controlling the puck. They were spending a lot of time in the Ozone. They were protecting the puck. I was I was very happy with them. I mean, actually, I mean, I think the last two games, they gave us that chance to play them against their top line and felt very comfortable, then they deserve a lot of credit for that. Timely saves are everything for a goalie in the second period. The save on I think it was Laken in on the two-on-one that s the pad save just how that was after the two goals and before Barzel’s power play. Like how critical was that to this? It is because it would have made a 4-3 game and then you’re in and and they score right at the start of the you know and I think that gave us the the the the confidence and then the jump and then we scored and made it a 5-2 game right after I think. But yeah, Ilia made the key save at the right time. I mean, unfortunately, the first one hit our RD and the second with the skate of RD. Those things happen. But, um, I thought we defended really well and like I just said, I mean, Ilia was was really good

Hear from Anders Lee, Mathew Barzal, Adam Pelech, Casey Cizikas and Patrick Roy after tonight’s win against the Colorado Avalanche.