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Blues edge Islanders in defensive showdown with Neighbours' OT goal
ST. LOUIS — It took the first five games of the season but like a good Neighbours, Jake was there with his first goal of the season, an overtime winner to sink the New York Islanders 1-0 on Thursday, Oct. 17, at the Enterprise Center.
“He’s such a good kid,” Blues defenseman Ryan Suter said of Neighbors. “He kind of has that old-school mentality so it’s fun to see him get rewarded there.”
Joel Hofer, who made 34 saves in his second start (and win) of the season, assisted in the goal by slapping the puck off the wall toward the end of the Blues zone. Philip Broberg caught the ricochet and carried the puck into the New York zone, where he passed to Neighbours for a scoring shot right in front of Islanders goalie Ilya Sorkin with 2:04 remaining in overtime.
“Just a great read by [Hofer],” Neighbors said. “He’s so good at playing the puck and he obviously saw we had numbers up the ice and made a great play to [Broberg]. I just tried to drive through that [defense], I think [Brandon Saad] was off my backside there. Broby made a great read and laid one in there for me.”
Before his assist, Hofer made a stick save on Islanders center Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s wrist shot 20 seconds before the game-winning goal.
“I just saw their guy was kind of poaching it a little bit and I saw Broby making his way to the o-zone,” Hofer said.
Hofer had his second career shutout in his and the team’s second overtime victory of the season. The 24-year-old goalie is 2-0 to start the season.
“It felt good,” Hofer said. “I thought I stayed present throughout the game. I had a lot of fun, that was a big thing. Those are very fun games to be a part of, those tight games against a good team.”
It was a change of pace for the Blues, who went from previously tailing by multiple goals in each of the first four games, to playing a scoreless staring contest with New York for three full periods.
“I thought we played the way this team needs to play,” Suter said. “You don’t want to get in track meets with teams. You want to play the right way.”
The Islanders have outshot their opponents in all four games this season, and yet it was a defensive battle until the very end.
“That’s Islanders hockey,” Neighbors said. “They make it so hard to get to the inside and get good looks. But honestly, I thought throughout the 60 minutes we had a lot of great chances and worn them down over time.”
Broberg’s assist gave him a point in all five games to start the season, making him the first defenseman in Blues history to do so.
The Blues’ (3-2-0) homestand continues, as they will host the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday. The Islanders (1-1-2) return home to host Montreal on Saturday night.