NEWARK, NJ — The New Jersey Devils learned something when they hosted the New York Islanders on Friday night.
Do not poke the bear that is Alexander Romanov.
Here’s why:
At 2:44 of the second period, Devils forward Kurtis MacDermind lined up Romanov for a booming hit:
After collecting himself, Romanov skated to the bench as his teammate Scott Mayfield went after the Devils penalty machine, dropping the gloves:
“I’m always great for the guys having my back,” Romanov said. “Thanks, Mazey.”
Then, just over a minute after getting trucked, at 3:53 of the second, Romanov laid out Devils start Jack Hughes:
“If they are going to hit me, I’m going to hit them,” Romanov said. “I’m going to hit their best player.”
Under eight minutes later, Romanov jumped in on the rush, firing a laser inside the blue line, which teammate Kyle Palmieri deflected past Devils netminder Jake Allen to give the Islanders a 3-2 lead:
It was just a tremendous handful of minutes for Romanov, who finished his game with an assist, one shot, five hits, and three blocks in 21:51 minutes.
“He got hit in the head by MacDermid. What I appreciate about him is that he kept his focus and made a super nice play,” Islanders head coach Patrick Roy said. “We talk about it before the game. He follows the rush. It’s exactly how we scored that one. I think he took a nice shot from the blue line, tip on Palmsy’s stick. Because he was on the rush. He used the speed.
“He was a beast out there. He played so well defensively, and he was on the rush, moving and getting the puck out of the zone. I thought he had a strong game.”
The warrior mentality with Romanov isn’t anything new but it certainly impressed a few of his teammates.
“It was one of the better 20 minutes of hockey I’ve seen,” Islanders captain Anders Lee said. “I think he was a part of everything in that period. Great shot from him, good touch by Palms. But yeah, he’s a physical guy. He plays hard. He plays hard every night.
“He wears his heart on his sleeve. And I think you guys all got a glimpse of that in a second.”
Lee added that Romanov declined stitches during the second intermission.
“They poked the bear,” Bo Horvat said. “And Romy came and probably played one of the best periods I’ve seen him play.”
