NEWARK, New Jersey — He New Jersey Devils I learned something when they organized the New York Islanders on Friday night.
Don’t touch 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 hard hit:
After recovering, Romanov skated to the bench as teammate Scott Mayfield went after the Devils’ penalty machine, dropping the gloves:
“I’m always great for the guys who have my back,” Romanov said. “Thank you, Mazey.”
Then, just over a minute after being transported, at 3:53 of the second, Romanov introduced Jack Hughes as the Devils’ departure:
“If they’re going to hit me, I’m going to hit them,” Romanov said. “I’m going to hit your best player.”
Less than eight minutes later, Romanov came on the run, firing a laser inside the blue line, which teammate Kyle Palmieri deflected past Devils goaltender 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, a shot, five hits and three blocks in 21:51 minutes.
“MacDermid hit him in the head. What I appreciate about him is that he stayed focused and made a super good play,” Islanders head coach Patrick Roy said. “We talked about it before the game. He follows the run. That’s exactly how we scored that one. I think he made a good shot from the blue line, with the tip of Palmsy’s stick. Because he was on the run. He used his speed. .
“He was a beast. He played great defense, and he was running and moving and getting the puck out of the zone. I thought he had a strong game.”
Romanov’s warrior mentality is nothing new, but it certainly impressed some of his teammates.
“It was one of the best 20 minutes of hockey I’ve ever seen,” Islanders captain Anders Lee said. “I think that was part of everything in that period. Great shot by 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 all got a glimpse of that in a second.”
Lee added that Romanov rejected the points during the second intermission.
“They took a swing at the bear,” Bo Horvat said. “And Romy came in and probably played one of the best periods I’ve ever seen him play.”