New York Islanders

Rapid Reaction: New York Islanders Start Red-Hot, Hold On For 6-3 Win

Published

2 years ago

February 10, 2022

The New York Islanders kicked off their second half with a 6-3 win over the Vancouver Canucks. The Islanders move to 17-17-6 on the season, 8-7-3 on the road. This contest was the first of three in Western Canada.

How It Happened

Zach Parise scored the first goal of the game just 3:25 into the first period as he finished off a feed from Noah Dobson inside the Vancouver Canucks paint.

Brock Nelson gave the Islanders a 2-0 lead 18 seconds later as he deflected an Adam Pelech point-shot over the glove of Canucks netminder Jaroslav Halak.

13 seconds after that Anders Lee deflected a Ryan Pulock shot off the skate and in from the slot to give the Islanders a 3-0 lead. Pulock and Cal Clutterbuck were credited with the assists on Lee’s 11th of the season.

With under seven minutes to play in the first period, Casey Cizikas finished off a back-door pass from Anthony Beauivllier to give the Islanders a 4-0 lead. Cizikas’ fourth of the season was assisted by Beauvillier and Zdeno Chara.

Mathew Barzal made it 5-0 just over three minutes later as he beat Halak on a semi-breakaway after a strong feed by Lee. Lee and Clutterbuck were credited with the assists on Barzal’s 11th of the season.

The Canucks made their way onto the scoreboard as with just over a minute to go in the first period as Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s wrist shot beat New York Islanders netminder through a screen for his fourth of the season.

Just under seven minutes into the second period, Elias Pettersson made it a 5-2 game as he made a strong move to the front of the net, before he beat Sorokin to the far post for his 13th of the season. Vasily Podkolzin and Ekman-Larsson were credited with the assists.

Luke Schenn made it 5-3 with 5:25 to play in the second period as his point-shot deflected on its way towards goal and beat Sorokin through the legs. Schenn’s third of the season was assisted by Brand Hunt and Conor Garland.

Matt Martin made it 6-3 as he finished off a strong play and pass from linemate Cizikas with under six minutes to play in the third period.

Islanders Offense Dynamite in the First Period

The New York Islanders were shut out by the Seattle Kraken in the final game before the All-Star break with just 19 shots. Guess they were saving all of them for the first twenty.

Before you could blink the New York Islanders were out to a 3-0 lead and it seemed the Canucks were about to get routed on their own ice. Those three goals came in a span of 31 seconds, the second-fastest three-goal stretch in New York Islanders history. Back on Oct 23, 1983, the Islanders scored three goals in 27 seconds against the rival New York Rangers.

Two more later on in the period in a span of just over three minutes made it 5-0.

Here’s a video thread of how the Islanders were able to get there: click here

The New York Islanders outshot the Vancouver Canucks 13-9 in the first period and absolutely dominated play. 12 different players collected points that period, with all four lines on the ice for at least one goal.

Second Period Breakdown

Coming off a five-goal first period, the New York Islanders watched a strong push by the Vancouver Canucks make it 5-3 after forty minutes. The Islanders were outshot 12-6 in the middle frame and were dominated.

The Islanders were caught on their heels often, reverting to their old ways, the ways that defined their standing situation. Ilya Sorokin had little to no chance on any of them and the Islanders got caught chasing. Islanders head coach Barry Trotz used his timeout with under six minutes to play when it was 5-2, with the Canucks scoring less than a minute later.

3 unanswered goals 👀 pic.twitter.com/B7N3bzDl46

— Vancouver #Canucks (@Canucks) February 10, 2022

Sorokin Saves the Day In the Third

Despite the offensive outburst, the New York Islanders relied heavily on the play of Ilya Sorokin to beat the Vancouver Canucks. Ilya Sorokin stopped 34 of 37 shots he faced, with two of the three goals coming off high-danger chances. He stopped all three shots he faced when the Islanders were short-handed in the second period.

The first goal was a seeing-eye shot, the second a deflection, and the third a rough play by the Islanders defense, which gave Elias Pettersson too much time and space to do what he wanted.

And that second period could have been even uglier if Sorokin did not make some key saves.

After making nine saves on 12 shots in the second period, Ilya Sorokin denied the final 16 shots he faced.

Clutterbuck’s Debut Alongside Barzal and Lee

The lines had been switched up and Mathew Barzal found himself a new right-winger in Cal Clutterbuck. It went incredibly well.

When Barzal was on the ice together (5 on 5) they outshot the Canucks 6-3, outscored them 2-1, with the Islanders having a majority of the possession time (62.5 CF%) in 9:10 minutes of play.

Cal Clutterbuck had the secondary assist on Anders Lee’s goal (3-0) and Barzal’s goal (5-0), Lee with the primary assist.

Defensively, Cal Clutterbuck helped the line tremendously. He was a physical presence all night long, with seven hits, and had a block as well.

Postgame Quotes: Anders Lee, Casey Cizikas, Mathew Barzal, Zach Parise and Barry Trotz

“We knew they were gonna have a push anytime you have a first period like that. You know they’re coming. Like every team in this league, there’s a lot of pride in that room. So they came out flying and were able to put a couple in, couple bounces that went against us and we settled back in and got our game back.” —Anders Lee on the Islander second period struggles

“We were embarrassed with our performance in that game. And you know, we wanted to come out and prove to ourselves that we’re a good hockey team. We were a lot better than that. And I think we did that tonight.” —Casey Cizikas

It was massive. Anytime you get three in the first four minutes especially after a tough loss to Seattle. Coming back from the break we knew we needed to start hot and get going and obviously. To get a good lead like that was nice. ” —Mathew Barzal

“When you see a lot of lineup changes, but they keep your line together, you feel like you’re doing the right things together. —Zach Parise on his play with Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Oliver Wahlstrom

“It hasn’t been working for us. We haven’t had consistent production through our lineup. So it was to put some people in a position where, you know, they can add a little more. I’ll say wait on all the lines especially, you know, our top, what we call our top two lines and just balance them out, do it with a little more four-line mentality. know there’s, you know like, Casey’s line has an identity. You know, why can’t we have that through our whole team?” —Barry Trotz on the line changes

Game Notes:

New York Islanders head coach Barry Trotz switched up his lines as Cal Clutterbuck played to the right of Mathew Barzal on the top line. Anthony Beauvillier was moved from LW2 to the fourth line. Ross Johnston played alongside Brock Nelson and Josh Bailey.

Kyle Palmieri did not play as he is not on the New York Islanders roster (paternity). Following morning skate head coach Barry Trotz told the media that defenseman Robin Salo is in Bridgeport.

Sebastian Aho served as the seventh defenseman for Wednesday’s contest.