Casey Cizikas nets winner in OT as Islanders tie series with Bruins at 1-1
Casey Cizikas #53 and the Islanders celebrate his goal at 5:12 of the first overtime to defeat the Boston Bruins 4-3 in Game Two of the Second Round of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs at the TD Garden on May 31, 2021 in Boston. Credit: Getty Images/Bruce Bennett
BOSTON — The Islanders did it the hard way. The thing is, they did it.
"This is a character win," coach Barry Trotz said. "There is no one that has bigger character in our dressing room and is more loved than Casey [Cizikas]. When he came in, our room exploded with guys hugging him."
The identity-setting fourth-line center scored on a breakaway at 14:48 of overtime to give the Islanders — who couldn’t hold a two-goal third-period lead — a road split against the Bruins with a 4-3 win in Game 2 of their East Division second-round series on Monday night before 17,400 at TD Garden.
Cizikas picked up a loose puck that bounced off Boston forward Charlie Coyle’s skate and raced in on Tuukka Rask before beating him on the stick side.
"Just skate as fast as I can and get a shot off, and I was able to beat him," said Cizikas, who scored his first playoff goal since a first-round series against Trotz’s Capitals in 2015.
"That was a heck of a hockey game," Trotz said. "That’s two good teams going nose-to-nose. That’s the type of series I expected going into it and I expect the same when we get back to the Island. They had a lot of momentum from the crowd. We fought through that, and that showed a lot of character."
The series shifts to Nassau Coliseum for Game 3 on Thursday night, with capacity expanded to 12,000.
Cizikas’ overtime winner came shortly after Semyon Varlamov, back in net for the first time since a Game 3 loss to the Penguins in the first round, denied Taylor Hall on a rebound.
Varlamov made 39 saves and Rask stopped 35 shots.
"He was great for us the whole game," said Jean-Gabriel Pageau, who capped a three-goal second period with a power-play tap-in at the left post to make it 3-1 at 17:21. "And so to come up like that and do that big save, I think it just gives us that little boost. To see that your goalie has your back is massive."
Patrice Bergeron’s one-timer brought the Bruins within 3-2 at 10:34 of the third period. Brad Marchand scored the equalizer on an unscreened power-play shot past Varlamov’s glove at 15:06 after the Islanders were caught with too many men on the ice.
"You’re going to expect a push," Josh Bailey said. "We want to stay aggressive in those situations. But again, they’re a good team. That’s the way it goes sometimes. But a win’s a win."
The Islanders went 2-for-3 with the man advantage and the Bruins were 1-for-2.
Trotz turned back to Varlamov after Ilya Sorokin stopped 35 of 39 shots in Saturday’s 5-2 loss in Game 1.
The Bruins took a 1-0 lead on their first shot as Coyle collected a turnover in the Islanders’ zone, skated around defenseman Nick Leddy and tucked the puck past Varlamov’s outstretched left pad at 2:38 of the first period.
The goal was not Varlamov’s fault, but it mirrored the early, questionable goals he surrendered in losses in Games 2 and 3 to the Penguins. But Varlamov stopped the next 14 shots the rest of the first period and all 10 in the second period.
Bailey tied the score at 1 with a power-play goal at 6:52 of the second period as his centering feed deflected in off defenseman Jeremy Lauzon. Kyle Palmieri stuffed the puck in at the left post to make it 2-1 at 11:00.
Beyond Varlamov’s goaltending and Cizikas’ overtime goal, a key for the Islanders was having all four lines aggressively creating chances. They have struggled to find that four-line balance in the playoffs.
Mathew Barzal remains without a goal in the playoffs, but he had four shots, and his top line with Jordan Eberle and Leo Komarov were constant threats.
"It’s just building momentum as a group," Cizikas said. "You see the line before you work and battling, taking hits to make plays. You want to follow that up with a big shift. I thought we did that line after line tonight."
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
