Yes! Yes! Yes! The 2014-15 season
By cory wright
The New York Islanders wanted to close Nassau Coliseum with a bang. Instead, they started the season with one.
Less than a week before the puck dropped on the 2014-15 campaign, GM Garth Snow drastically remade the Isles’ blue line. Snow acquired defensemen Nick Leddy and Johnny Boychuk hours apart in back-to-back deals, giving the Islanders a new and formidable top pair. The double coup capped an active summer of roster reconstruction, as the team added goalie Jaroslav Halak, as well as free agent forwards Mikhail Grabovski and Nikolay Kulemin.
The moves paid dividends immediately. Boychuk scored the Islanders’ first goal of the season and assisted on the next two in a rousing 5-3 win over Carolina, the first of four-straight wins to start the year. Boychuk and Leddy posted (then) career years in expanded roles as the Isles’ top pair and inked long-term contracts. In doing so, they endorsed the Islanders culture and direction and gave the team a new air of respectability around the league.
In net, Halak’s 38 wins set the franchise’s single-season record, and he also set the team’s consecutive wins record with 11. He was named to his first NHL All-Star Game that year, giving the Islanders some much-needed stability between the pipes.
The reinforcements filled in the gaps around the Islanders’ homegrown core, which continued to grow. John Tavares, in his sixth year with the team and second as captain, rebounded from a season-ending knee injury in 2013-14 to lead the team in goals (38), assists (48), and points (86). Tavares finished the season second in NHL scoring and third in Hart Trophy (MVP) voting.
Behind Tavares, Kyle Okposo recorded 51 points (18G, 33A) in 60 games to finish second in team-scoring, despite missing a chunk of the year with an eye injury. Anders Lee offered a preview of what was to come with 25 goals in his first full season, playing alongside Brock Nelson (20 goals) and Ryan Strome (50 points) on the “Kid Line.”
The Islanders could score and also hit, as Matt Martin, Casey Cizikas and Cal Clutterbuck were establishing the Islanders’ heart-and-soul with a physical and relentless forecheck. After separately leading the league in hits for five-straight seasons, Martin and Clutterbuck joined forces to give the Isles a crash-and-bang identity, along with an energetic and emerging Cizikas.
The renaissance on the ice was set against the backdrop of a raucous Coliseum, which recaptured some of the magic of the fabled Fort Neverlose era during its (first) swan song. Fans and alumni flocked back for a pilgrimage and to pay their respects to the old barn, which was once again rowdy and packed to the brim.
As the nostalgia flowed out onto Hempstead Turnpike, a new tradition was born, as the “Yes! Yes! Yes!” chant took off, enthusiastically cheered after Islanders goals. The players embraced the new tradition, with Tavares notably celebrating with an impromptu “Yes! Yes! Yes!” after an OT winner in New Jersey. Shortly after, the team adopted the new salute at center ice after wins.
The fresh blood and rockin’ barn reinvigorated the Islanders, who recorded 101 points during the regular season, their first 100-point campaign since 1983-84, and returned to the playoffs for the second time in three years.
That set up a first-round playoff series against the Washington Capitals, playoff rivals with a lengthy and bloody history. To the Islanders and their fans, it was more than just a series, as they saw the 2015 playoffs as a last stand for the beloved Coliseum, which began to feel like The Alamo, given the level of violence and intensity on the ice.
The Islanders took the series opener in Washington and returned to Long Island with a 1-1 split. Tavares’ first-career OT winner in Game Three put the Islanders up 2-1 in the series, but Washington wrestled it back with an overtime win in Game Four. The intensity continued to rise, as defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky was knocked out of the series after a hit from Tom Wilson in Game Four. Injuries had begun mounting for the Isles.
After falling 5-1 in Game Five in Washington, the Isles returned for what could have been the final game in the Old Barn in Game Six. Tailgaters set up their tents early, but even a pre-game party couldn’t alleviate the tension in the air, as the game remained tied 1-1 midway through the third period. Emotions ran high when Tavares was stapled by Alex Ovechkin deep in the Capitals zone, but the hit-from-behind and ensuing chaos left Kulemin undetected in front of the net, easily able to slide the game-winner past Braden Holtby. In an instant, fans went from being up in arms to an uproarious frenzy, hopeful to return to the Coliseum. Game Six ended with an on-ice brawl and an Islanders win, which seemed an appropriate tribute for a gritty building and a blue-collar team and fanbase.
Ultimately, injuries from the physically punishing series caught up with the Islanders in Game Seven, where they played without two of their regular defensemen in a 2-1 loss to the Capitals. It was an abrupt end to a celebratory and unifying season for Long Island. It wasn’t the send-off the Isles wanted to give the franchise’s first home, but what wasn’t known when the bulldozers cut through the Coliseum ice during an emotional goodbye, is that they’d soon get the chance to come home again.
