A WIN IS A WIN: Islanders Victorious over Devils on Bizarre Night in Newark

It ended as bizarrely as it had begun. The New York Islanders kept their winning streak intact on Sunday with a 3-2 shootout win over the New Jersey Devils on Sunday night in Newark.

Oliver Wahlstrom won the game in the shootout for the Islanders on a night that they had two players placed on the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol list and at one point looked as though they had lost 23 seconds into overtime. The win extended the Islanders winning streak to nine games, which is the longest active streak in the NHL currently

The Islanders are one win shy of matching the 10 game win streak they had last season.

Sunday’s win was made all that more impressive by the events of the evening, which had Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Noah Dobson placed on the NHL’s COVID 19 protocol list. Pageau was not listed on the Islanders roster for Sunday’s game, but Dobson took warmups and then was pulled from the game last minute.

It forced the Islanders to activate Sebastian Aho to take Dobson’s place.

Aho appeared in his first game in the NHL since March 18, 2018. Aho had participated in warmups and had just gotten his gear off when he was told that he would be playing on Sunday night.

To top what had been an already bizarre evening, it looked as though the Islanders had lost the game on a goal from P.K. Subban less than 30 seconds into the extra period. However, the goal was overturned after the play was ruled offsides following a video review.

The Islanders were first to strike on Sunday despite the pregame craziness. Aho fired the puck towards the net and it hit off of Kieffer Bellows and went into the net for the goal at 4:18 of the first.

The goal was Bellows’ third in his last two games.

New Jersey evened the score at one less than a minute later on the power play. With Andy Greene in the box for delay of game, New Jersey went on the power play and capitalized seconds into the man advantage. Janne Kuokkanen was able to put a rebound shot past Sorokin at 5:12 of the first period.

The Islanders took the lead back with 1.7 seconds left in the first when Nelson flung the puck on net from near the boards and it got by Scott Wedgewood for the 2-1 lead.

New Jersey tied the game again at two when Yegor Sharangovich scored his fifth of the year at 16:04 of the second period.