Barry Trotz touts the Islanders' losing the lead but winning the game as a good experience

At the time, Barry Trotz and the Islanders certainly would have wished to see Mathew Barzal’s breakaway backhand shot during the second period four-on-four in Game 2 of their second round playoff series against the Boston Bruins on Monday go in. That would have made it 3-1, Islanders, and given the visiting team a firmer grasp on the game.

Barzal’s shot missed, but it all worked out just fine in the end. The Islanders did build a 3-1 lead anyway before allowing two third-period goals that tied the score and forced overtime. There, Casey Cizikas’ breakaway goal at 14:48 of sudden-death extra period gave the Islanders a 4-3 win that tied their best-of-seven series with the Bruins, 1-1.

And in a weird way, Trotz argued Tuesday, the experience of blowing the lead, and having to find a new way to win, may actually serve the Islanders better over the long term than an easy, 5-1 victory might have.

"I think it might have been one of the best things that happened to us last night was the fact that we did give up a 3-1 lead, and we did find a way to win at the end,’’ Trotz said, as the Isles took the day off after returning home from Boston to prepare for Game 3 of the series Thursday at Nassau Coliseum. "Those are things that can help you more than, us winning, scoring on the breakaway, and then [Anthony] Beauvillier scoring and making it 5-1, and it's not much of a game.

"The experience of being up 3-1, and then giving up those two goals, and being able to get your game back and finding a way to win that hockey game after all the momentum in that game shifted to Boston, that's a better experience for our hockey team,’’ he said. "And when guys look back, they'll go bring up those experiences next time it happens to us.’’

The Bruins scored the game’s first goal Monday when Charlie Coyle drove around Islanders defenseman Nick Leddy and tucked a forehand between goaltender Semyon Varlamov’s skate and the post on the Bruins’ first shot on goal at 2:38 of the first period. But the Islanders settled down, then dominated the second period, scoring three goals – two of them on the power play – to enter the third period up, 3-1. Goals by Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand, at 10:34 and 15:06, respectively, tied the score, but the Isles dominated play in the overtime before Cizikas’ first playoff goal since 2015 gave them the win.

Trotz was asked if tying the series, 1-1, as opposed to falling into an 0-2 hole, made him feel like the Islanders now had the momentum.

"I'm not a momentum guy,’’ he said. "Let's just focus on the next game. Because the momentum will change 100 times in a series, period by period, shift by shift. You saw last night, I thought we were going really good, and then they score a goal and the momentum changed. [Then] I called a timeout, we sort of got stabilized, we got to overtime and then we were able to win.

"So, I don't know if it's momentum, but it gives you confidence,’’ he said. "You have a lot more confidence when it's 1-1 than [if] it's 0-2, I think.’’

Getting a split on the road means the Islanders now have taken home ice advantage away from the Bruins, as three of the next five games are now scheduled to be played in the Coliseum, where the attendance will be bumped up to 12,000 for Games 3 and 4 on Thursday and Saturday. A crowd of 9,000 watched the Islanders close out the Pittsburgh Penguins with a 5-3 win in Game 6 of their first-round series last Wednesday.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.