Once upon a time, green was the wrong color to wear on St. Patrick's Day.
With Patrick Roy's debut off the bench, the Islanders snapped a four-game losing streak in front of their home crowd, defeating the Stars 3-2 in overtime on Bo Horvat's game-winning goal.
It was far from a perfect 60 minutes, and many of the same issues that have plagued the Isles all year were still evident, with an abysmal second period that silenced a crowd that had shouted Roy's name within the first minute.
However, by the end of the third, the Isles had fans back in their corner.
The win vaulted the Isles into fourth place in the Metropolitan Division, leapfrogging the Capitals and Devils.
New coach, new life, new season.
Down 2-1 in the third and with little energy in the building, the Islanders finally got on the forecheck and got results.
After Kyle Palmieri got the puck, Hudson Fassing tipped Noah Dobson's shot from the point to tie the game 5:23 into the game.
It not only energized the building, but helped energize the team as well.
It was enough to send the game into overtime. Horvat got the Roy era off to a good start by defeating Scott Wedgewood with a backhand that was enough to win in overtime.
The game started out more like Friday's loss in Chicago.
The Islanders had a lot of chances early and wasted most of their time of possession, but Alexander Romanov beat Wedgewood on a rush and scored on his first shot of the night.
And if that was bad, the latter was even worse. That's because the defensive zone issues that plagued the Islanders under Lane Lambert are back in vogue.
With the Isles holding a 1-0 lead, Julien Gauthier moved out of position and Jason Robertson manipulated the puck between his legs and roofed the puck from the low slot to make it 11:35 into the game. We drew.
Less than five minutes later, Nils Lundqvist fired a shot from the right point that clipped Ilya Sorokin's pad to give the Stars the lead.
It was a huge unforced error for the goaltender, but it was one in a game where the Islanders repeatedly looked to him for relief.
Scoring two points doesn't obscure the fact that Roy has the job for him.
After discussing in the morning how poorly the Islanders were rated in terms of analysis regarding time of possession, the need to fix the team's breakouts and wanting to focus on defense, Roy said his new team will play without the puck. Spent too much time on the ball, had poor breakouts, and still lacked structure in the defensive zone, which continued to put too much strain on Sorokin's shoulders.
These are not problems that can be solved overnight.
And the lack of energy in the first 40 minutes under the new coach was considered quite alarming in itself.
For most of the night, the most energetic person was Roy himself.
Even behind the bench, he became his own show, walking around, shouting, clapping, and walking 10,000 six-foot steps.
But a win is a win, and for a team that needed something to cheer for, I think a come-from-behind win under a new coach is pretty good.
By the end of the night, the Islanders had it.
St. Patrick's Day in blue and orange.
St. Patrick's Day in January.
St. Patrick's Day on Long Island.
