New York Islanders fans with a sense of history may have joined in the “We want Marty” chants on Saturday, although it would have been a weird sort of nostalgia.
After all, as NHL.com’s Lou Korac points out, the league’s all-time wins leader has more wins against the Islanders than any team. After the St. Louis Blues’ comeback 6-4 win, 52 of Martin Brodeur’s 689 victories have come against the Isles.
The Islanders stormed out to a 3-0 lead through the first period, chasing suddenly struggling St. Louis goalie Jake Allen in the process.
Things only got wilder from there, however, as the Blues erupted to tie the game in the second period. John Tavares made a great play to restore an Islanders lead to 4-3, but that was the last time they’d lead the game.
Paul Stastny enjoyed one of his best games with St. Louis, scoring the game-winner and two goals overall. Joakim Lindstrom wasn’t expected to even play on Saturday, yet he took advantage of Alexander Steen’s absence by generating three assists (doubling his season points total in the process).
Islanders fans may be frustrated beyond seeing Brodeur come out on top yet again, as there were some controversial calls both ways, including a Brodeur stop that went under review.
(There’s an explanation up on NHL.com, but no video yet.)
While there were some numbers that seemed normal enough (Tavares and Vladimir Tarasenko scoring), there were plenty of odd stats from this exciting contest:
Per Elias, this is @MartinBrodeur's 1st relief appearance since Jan 8, 2011 & just the 16th such game of his NHL career (1,261 GP) #STLvsNYI
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) December 6, 2014
1st time since 11/1 that Halak has allowed more than 2 goals.
— Arthur Staple (@StapeAthletic) December 6, 2014
Wild stuff.