The New York Islanders won all three of their games for a second consecutive week. They defeated the Blues at home and picked up road wins over the Sharks and Ducks. The Islanders have a 29-20-14 record with 72 total points. They end the week in possession of the second wild card spot in the East.
The Islanders opened up the week with a home victory against the St. Louis Blues. After the disastrous performance against the Blues in St. Louis, the Islanders were looking to have a better game to keep their recent momentum. Things didn’t get off to the most promising start as the Blues struck first. Alexey Toropchenko got a lot of space from the right circle and ripped a shot past Ilya Sorokin early in the second. Then, a bad turnover from Bo Horvat set up Jordan Kyrou for a goal right in front of the net later in the period.
As it began to look like this game was going to turn into another disaster, the Islanders began to rally. Kyle Palmieri jump-started the offense after getting a good look against Joel Hofer. J.G. Pageau then tied the game off a loose puck that bounced off of several bodies. In the opening minute of the third, Horvat made up for his earlier mistake by scoring a go-ahead wrap-around goal that ultimately proved to be the game winner. The Islanders successfully held off the Blues for the entirety of the third to win their fourth straight. Mat Barzal added an empty net goal to win the game by a 4-2 final score.
In the first game of a West Coast road trip, the Islanders dominated the San Jose Sharks by a 7-2 final score. Noah Dobson got them off to a fast start and scored the game’s opening goal just 19 seconds in. Alex Romanov then unleashed a slap shot by Magnus Chrona to double the Islanders’ advantage at the 18:31 mark of the period. The Sharks opened up the second with a power play marker from Thomas Bordeleau to cut the lead down to one.
The scoring halted until the 11:24 mark of the period, when a flurry of goals would be scored. Horvat took a puck to the net and restored the two-goal lead, but it was quickly countered 25 seconds later by Mike Hoffman’s tally from the slot. But the Islanders again took the two-goal lead by way of Kyle MacLean’s top shelf wrister. His goal was scored 15 seconds after Hoffman’s, for a total of three combined goals scored in under a minute. From there, it was off to the races for the Islanders, who took total control over this game. Barzal, Sebastian Aho and Anders Lee scored three consecutive goals throughout the second and third periods. This, along with Sorokin’s stellar third period performance, cemented the blowout victory, which was the Islanders’ fifth straight.
The final game of the week saw the Islanders travel to Anaheim, where they took care of business against the Ducks with a 6-1 victory. The win was fueled by a three-goal first period. Simon Holmstrom won a puck off the boards and set up Casey Cizikas in the slot to score the first goal. Then, on a breakaway chance, Palmieri stayed hot and got off a backhanded shot that eluded Lukas Dostal. Brock Nelson capped off the first period scoring run after a terrific passing sequence gave him a great opportunity. The team had a tougher go of it in the second period, where the Ducks had their strongest stretch of play. However, the only damage done was a quick shot from Alex Killorn that beat Semyon Varlamov.
The Islanders got back on track in the third period, with Horvat restoring the three-goal lead just 34 seconds in. Pierre Engvall and Cal Clutterbuck added two more goals in the period to emphasize the blowout win. Varlamov was solid in his first start since February, making 22 out of 23 saves in the game. This marked the sixth straight win for the Islanders, which also propelled them into a playoff spot.
1. Bo Horvat (Three goals, three assists)
2. Brock Nelson (PPG, five assists)
3. Mat Barzal (Two goals, two assists)
Featured image courtesy of NHL.com
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