UNIONDALE, N.Y. — Hockey is a team game, one that requires positive contributions from everyone stepping on the ice during a given day. You’re only as strong as your weakest link and all those cliches.
They are cliches, but they are true.
However, if those players who play the big minutes and are relied upon in crucial situations don’t deliver, no one cares if your fourth line authored a few nice shifts and created some of that sweet, sweet momentum.
On Sunday afternoon, in front of a raucous Nassau Coliseum crowd that was seemingly more engaged in what was happening on the ice than the opposition, John Tavares and Johnny Boychuk made all the difference for the New York Islanders.