OTTAWA – How can a team so thoroughly change its personality over a span of nine days? Is new head coach Bill Stewart really that good or was former coach Mike Milbury really that bad?
Friday night, Stewart’s Islanders remained unbeaten by rallying three times from two-goal deficits to pull out a 4-4 tie against league power Phoenix before a thrilled Coliseum crowd of 12,640.
This from a squad who never mounted comebacks under their former coach. The Isles had won just once when trailing after two periods and had gone 0-21-1 under Milbury when the opposition scored first.
Stewart is 2-0-1 as head coach entering last night’s game in Ottawa, gaining a win and a tie in games in which the opponents score first.
How to explain?
“We had to get back to the grassroots and find ourselves. and realize why we were here,” said the 41-year-old Stewart, who served as one of Milbury’s assistants. “We had to put the selfishness aside and your own personal goals and just start playing as a team. I think we’re starting to learn to do that as a group.”
Despite a spotty performance by on-the-trading-block Tommy Salo, the Isles hung in against Phoenix, trailing 2-0, 3-1 and 4-2 and escaping with a point.
Felix Potvin, benched the last three games, got the call last night against the Senators, who are talking to the Isles about a Salo package that would also include Friday-night hero Robert Reichel.
“Felix says he’s feeling better about himself in practice,” Stewart said.
Putting selfishness aside has become Stewart’s mantra. While he doesn’t want to criticize his current boss, it is clear Stewart believes that a selfish attitude pervaded the squad in the final weeks of Milbury’s reign.
The Isles, who were on a 0-10-1 slide when Stewart took charge, have made this turnaround against rough competition. They had yet to score less than four goals during the Stewart regime. They beat two playoff teams in Pittsburgh (5-2) and Boston (4-1) and squeaked out a tie against the Coyotes.
Stewart has hardly got caught up with the recent spate of winning. “We’ve got a long ways to go, who are we kidding?” Stewart said. The coach’s favorite phrase – one he has used all week – is “Let’s not fall in love with ourselves.”
Trailing 4-2 late in the third period, the Isles scored twice in a 2:02 span on goals by Zdeno Chara, the first of his career, and Reichel to send the game into overtime. Reichel beat goalie Jimmy Waite with a top-of-the-left-circle slapper that went over his glove.
“It wasn’t a hard shot, just the right spot,” said the red-hot Reichel, who has four goals in the past two games.
If anyone’s attitude has changed for the better, it is Reichel’s. It is known he wasn’t thrilled with the way Milbury ran the bench or practices. Ticked off the Isles have yet to make him a contract offer (he is a restricted free agent at season’s end), Reichel’s game slipped during their massive slide.
Now that Milbury is a GM-only, he has already contacted Reichel’s agent, Paul Kraus, promising he will make Reichel an contract-extension offer soon. Kraus has threatened that Reichel will play in the Czech Republic next season if an agreement is not reached by season’s end.
It is why Milbury is shopping Reichel and is being mentioned as part of a package with Salo in talks with the Senators. The deal has Salo and Reichel going to Ottawa for Senators goalie Damian Rhodes, defenseman Igor Kravchuk and forward Vaclav Prospal.
But now Reichel sounds like a happy camper again. “We’ve got character on our team but we didn’t come back like that all year,” Reichel said. “We came back down two goals three times and almost win the game. He’s a good coach, very smart. He keeps us believing we can still make the playoffs. That’s why we pushed hard [Friday night]. Maybe one point will be big at the end of the season, you never know.”
