Mason Jobst got the job done, scoring the overtime winner as the Islanders defeated the Flyers 3-2 on Tuesday, Sept. 17 at NYCB LIVE, home of the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
There were many ups and downs leading to the win such as the oddity of the lines which. Some lines seemed to work well together, while other lines did not mesh. Many fans found the pairing of the defensemen to be a bit odd, questioning why some players were not with whom they were expected them to be with.
The third-line of Michael Dal Colle, Derick Brassard and Oliver Wahlstrom was a really good pairing. The only change that could possibly be coming to this line during the season could be the loss of Wahlstrom back to the AHL. Brassard and Barzal even worked well together; personally I didn’t know if I would like Brassard on this team, but he immediately meshed with this team and Islander fans should be excited to see him through the rest of the season.
As for the Islanders first line of Ross Johnston, Mat Barzal and Jordan Eberle. People had hope for this line, saying it sounds similar to the line of Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Bäckström and Tom Wilson, but then puck dropped.
The line did not work and it was clear that Johnston could not keep up with the faster pace. Barzal and Johnston tripped over each other a few times and there was definite improvement to be made.
There was not much to say about the fourth line simply because in the recent years, Islanders fans have been spoiled with a dominant unit. Trying to compare the fourth line from this game to our normal fourth line is impossible.
The second line was very young, but Anders Lee showed his leadership, leading the unit. That attests to his importance for the team.
As mentioned earlier, many people questioned the defense pairings as well, but they were fairly solid, helping Greiss out of a massive crises in the second period. The pairings of a rookie with a veteran is commonplace in hockey. One person needs to know how to keep the blue-line in control, so breaking up expected d-pairings like Pelech and Pulock made sense. Defensemen like Noah Dobson were solid as expected and have a promising look to possibly finding themselves in the lineup for opening night.
Overall, the game went as expected for a rookie-filled team. Those watching the game were able to easily tell who would probably be in the lineup for the start of the season and who were going to be sent back down to the AHL. Although no points were distributed tonight, Tuesday’s game was an exciting one to watch.

David Lazar