"Andy stepped up, he's an experienced guy," Trotz said. "He was excited to get back in the lineup, he was refreshed a little bit. I thought he made really good decisions and contributed from a defensive standpoint and from an offensive standpoint, he got rewarded with a goal. I thought [Johnston] came in and gave us some good legs, some weight. He made a really good play on the Cizikas goal. And we had some good commitment… The kids contributed at the end and [Bailey] helped out. We had contributions right through the lineup."
The Islanders' win featured a goal in each period. To start off, the Islanders survived the chippy opening frame - where both sides exchanged three penalties apiece and the Islanders were outshot 12-7 - with a 1-0 lead heading into the first intermission.
After killing off two penalties - compared to Anaheim's one - to start the period, Dobson delivered the Islanders the game's icebreaker at 13:41. A strong forechecking effort from Kyle Palmieri and Jean-Gabriel Pageau shifted the puck low-to high where Dobson's one timer sailed through traffic and past Stolarz.
On a quick sequence up the ice, the Islanders doubled their lead 2-0 just 1:33 into the second period. Quick passing from Clutterbuck to Johnston allowed for an odd-man rush where Johnston threaded his pass across the slot for Cizikas to put away the one timer and his sixth goal of the season on his 31st birthday.