New York Islanders extend winless streak to 13 games with overtime loss to the Atlanta Thrashers
There's futility, and then there's Long Island futility.
The New York Islanders do not have a win in the entire month of November as they had their winless streak extended to 13 games after losing 2-1 in overtime to the Atlanta Thrashers on Sunday 21 November.
How it happened
It was Michael Grabner who scored with just 13 seconds remaining in the second period to put the Islanders ahead going into the third. But when Zenon Konopka took a holding penalty early in the third period,
it opened the door for Nik Antropov to score his sixth of the season and tie the game at 1-1.
In overtime, it was Thrashers defenceman Dustin Byfuglien who broke Islander hearts when he scored at 1:30 into the extra frame. The Thrashers had done well to control the puck in the Islanders zone before
Byfuglien collected the puck in the slot and fired a hard wrister past Rick DiPietro in the Islanders net. The goal was Byfuglien's seventh of the season to lead all NHL defencemen.
What they're saying
It was Byfuglien who was largely responsible for the Islanders scoring their goal in the second period when he failed to pick up Grabner in front of the net. Thrashers head coach Craig Ramsay was impressed
with the way that Byfuglien, who scored five game-winning goals for the Chicago Blackhawks in last season's Stanley Cup play-offs, took responsibility for his mistake and stepped up in the clutch.
"He puts his hand up," Ramsay said. "He also took credit for the play for their goal on the 4-on-4. He held himself accountable and told his teammates he'd get it back and he did."
DiPietro, who has struggled this season since returning from several knee injuries, came up with a strong performance for the Islanders despite the loss in stopping 33 of the 35 shots that he faced.
"He was outstanding," interim head coach Jack Capuano said of DiPietro, "He was what I thought he was going to be. He was focused and competitive all week and he played extremely well."
"A loss is a loss," DiPietro said. "We are doing things better and the effort is there, but it's very frustrating to lose tonight's game. We are capable of doing a lot for long stretches of time but a
few mistakes here and there and it costs us the game. We have a great group of guys. There aren't 20 guys in the world that I'd rather go to war with."
The Islanders will be looking to finally put an end to their winless streak when they host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday 24 November. They are now 4-12-4 on the season.
The Thrashers continue their six-game home stand when they host the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday night.
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