NEWARK — After 20 games this season, the Islanders were 6-10-4 and their two big free-agent forward additions, Andrew Ladd and Jason Chimera had combined for three goals.
Ladd has 22 now and Chimera, never known as a big scorer throughout his 16-year NHL career, scored his 19th Saturday in a big spot. It gave the Islanders a 3-0 lead early in the third on their way to another do-or-die two points.
“We would be nowhere near the situation we’re in now without those two guys,” Doug Weight said of the team’s two most veteran forwards. “We lost Kyle [Okposo], we lost Matty [Martin], we lost Frans [Nielsen].