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Contributions from Brendan Burke, Stan Fischler, Chris King, and Jiggs McDonald.
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A portion of the proceeds goes to the Islanders Children’s Foundation.
Good Morning, Islanders Country.
Sometimes games go the way they're supposed to go.
The Tampa Bay Lightning, locked into their playoff position, were coming off a hotly contested, emotional loss at Madison Square Garden and started backup goaltender Brian Elliot. The Isles had three off days and knew their season was on the line with no margin of error in an Eastern Conference wild-card race that increasingly looks destined to come down to the final game of the regular season.
Advantage Isles, so it seemed, and so it would be.
Playing in front of a raucous home crowd, the Isles came out with energy but, despite outshooting Tampa 13-3, had nothing to show for it after the first period. Meanwhile, the out-of-town scoreboard was telling them that this must-win game carried even more importance as both FLA and PITT were on their way to wins.
In the second period, Adam Pelech, who played a team-high 22:33 TOI, scored his career-best sixth goal of the season to grab the lead. Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri scored less than a minute apart, and Ryan Pulock extended the lead in the waning seconds of the period to regain some breathing room and maintain control of a game the Isles were dominating.
"We knew what was at stake tonight. Playing against a really good hockey team, we got to bring that mindset to every game here. All the teams we wanted to lose tonight, won. We just have to keep winning and playing our game." - Bo Horvat
Last night was the type of effort the Islanders will need three more times to secure a spot in the postseason. We’ll see if another team stumbles, but on Thursday, all looked poised to go on a run to close the season. Running the table may be what’s necessary to earn a playoff berth. One down, three to go.
Coming up, Josh Bailey won’t be able to catch Denis Potvin, and Alexander Romanov remains day-to-day. Plus, a Vezina Trophy argument for Ilya Sorokin, a pair of Mets take in the action, and Oliver Wahlstrom does some sparring.
Let’s dive in.
🏒 IN SHORT: The Islanders scored four goals in the second period and defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-1 at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, on Thursday night. Adam Pelech scored his sixth goal of the season at 3:46 of the second period to open the scoring. Brock Nelson, Kyle Palmieri, and Ryan Pulock each scored in the second period for the Islanders (40-30-9). Simon Holmstrom and Bo Horvat added third-period goals, and Ilya Sorokin made 30 saves in the win. Nikita Kucherov had the Lightning (45-28-6) goal, and Brian Elliot made 35 saves in the loss. Lightning captain Steven Stamkos played in his 1,000th NHL game.
KEY MOMENT(s):
🔸 Leading 1-0 on an Adam Pelech goal, Brock Nelson extended the lead to 2-0 at 9:54 when he one-timed a Samuel Bolduc pass from behind the net. For Nelson, this goal gave him 70 points on the season, the first time he hit that milestone. It was the first career assist for the young defenseman.
🔹 Kyle Palmieri gave the Islanders a 3-0 lead 49 seconds later at 10:43. He took a pass from Nelson and scored with a wrist shot from the right circle.
3 REACTIONS
❶ HAVE TO WIN: “We have three games left. We have to win hockey games,” Islanders head coach Lane Lambert said. “I thought we played a better game than we did there,” Lambert continued. “We had better to give… we played more aggressive and in their face and did a good job of that.”
❷ FATE IS IN OUR HANDS: "We’ve got to bring that mindset to every game here in the final stretch because all the teams that we wanted to lose tonight won,” said Bo Horvat. “Thankfully, we won. Fate is in our hands, we just have to keep winning and playing our game, and the rest will take care of itself.”
❸ TOOK ADVANTAGE: “I thought we had pretty good energy tonight,” Brock Nelson said. “Maybe we took advantage of a team that came off a back-to-back. It was tight in the first, but I thought we followed it up with a good second.”
GameScore Impact Card
⏭ NEXT UP: The Islanders next take the ice on Saturday night when they host the Philadelphia Flyers. Face-off from UBS Arena is set for 7:30 PM ET.
📊 STANDINGS: The standings remained unchanged other than the points, as each of the four teams in the wild card race won on Thursday night.
📰 NEWS: Forward Josh Bailey was back as a healthy scratch, with Simon Holmstrom drawing back in the lineup on Thursday night. It was the eighth time in 10 games that Bailey has not played. By missing the game, it ensures that Bailey (1,056) won’t be able to pass Denis Potvin (1,060) in career games played with the Islanders this season. As we wrote yesterday and Andrew Gross covered in Newsday, the buyout option for Bailey is very real, given the savings next year and the limited impact it would have on a higher cap in 2024-25.
◾️ A couple of hours before the puck drop, head coach Lane Lambert announced that Alexander Romanov was still unavailable and would not dress against Tampa Bay due to an upper-body injury. Romanov has really come into his own down the stretch of the season, and the day-to-day prognosis keeps the door open for him to return for one of the critical final three games.
🥅 VEZINA CALIBER: It’s easy to look at Linus Ullmarks numbers and determine that he’s probably going to win the Vezina Trophy at the end of the season. He and the Boston Bruins have been historically good this season and are the favorites to win the Stanley Cup. While recognizing Ullmark as the likely Vezina winner, Travis Yost, via TSN, also makes the argument that Ilya Sorokin is making just as strong of a case to win.
“But the one award that drew some push back was the Vezina Trophy. Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark, the odds-on favorite to win it all, has turned in a remarkable season and is an exceptional candidate. But I think New York Islanders netminder Ilya Sorokin has had the better year of the two. And though I still think Sorokin should get serious consideration, I recognize the daylight between the two may not be significant.”
In more than one model that measures goals saved above expected, Sorokin is leading the NHL, Ullmark included in the statistic. He’s doing it, too, without the elite likes of the Bruins, such as Patrice Bergeron, David Pastrnak, and co. If you ask us, Yost’s argument is well-stated.
⚾️ OPENING NIGHT: The threat of rain has never postponed a hockey game which meant Brandon Nimmo and Luis Guillorme were able to attend the game at UBS Arena. They were probably expecting to be off on Friday, so hopefully, they're ready for the 1:10 PM start at Citi Field this afternoon vs. the Marlins.
◾️ According to @hockey-statistics via Twitter, the Florida Panthers and Pittsburgh Penguins have been better play drivers this season, whereas the Islanders are receiving the best goaltending. Thanks to Ilya Sorokin and Semyon Varlamov, the Islanders are well ahead of Fla and Pitt in the xG differential.
📚 SOUND SMART: Per Eric Hornick in The Skinny, Brock Nelson had a pair of assists to pass Mathew Barzal for the club lead (39-37) to complete his third career three-point period. His game-winning goal was his first on 44 career shots on goal against Brian Elliott and was the 38th game-winning goal of his NHL career to pass Bob Bourne and Brent Sutter (both w/ 37) and tie Anders Lee and Bobby Nystrom for sixth place on the franchise’s all-time list.
🗓 ISLES REWIND: Ahead of Easter Weekend, on April 8, 2007, the greatest poke-check in NHL history happened. On Easter Sunday, the Islanders defeated the New Jersey Devils 3-2 in a shootout to earn a trip to the Stanley Cup Playoffs in one of the most improbable playoff berths in franchise history.
Wade Dubielewicz was the hero. The 28-year-old goalie, playing in only his 17th NHL game, made poke check saves in the shootout on Brian Gionta and Sergei Brylin to send the Isles into the postseason.
🔗 Islanders ‘top guys’ must find scoring touch to cement playoff spot by Joe Pantorno, amNewYork “As much as Lambert and the Islanders harp on the importance of secondary scoring, the big guns are going to be the reason they make or miss the postseason with each of these next eight points on the table being crucial.”
🔗 Islanders Without Romanov, Players Share Importance of Playing at Home in Crunch Time, by Stefen Rosner, The Hockey News: "I think our number one thing that triggers our offense is just establishing our forecheck. Get our forecheck going. We need a good start and to get to our game early."
And we leave you with this …. a Wahlstrom sighting! Islanders Oliver Wahlstrom is still staying in shape while he recovers from his lower-body injury, sparring with UFC Lightweight Fighter Matt Frevola.
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.....a BIG statement game (LOATHE Tampa Bay, however ENDEARING the MassMutual spot with Stamkos & Hedman observing an IMPROBABLE PeeWee check ) and ARGUABLY, what WAS to be TOUGHEST of four remaining - as for S'ROK's Vezina viability, I'D argue he's been a SLIGHTLY more valuable player than Ullmarkie has to Boston.....GOOD to see Ollie Wahlly out (NOT on a MAT, the ICE) and about; thought he MIGHT be CRIPPLED for LIFE by that HARD landing but, apparently LOOKED worse than it was.....my instincts tell me Josh IS gone come September - DITTO unfortunately, SCOTT; Alex an increasingly-effective replacement - STILL believe PARKER (and ARNAUD) should be REGULARS, too; down to sheer economics (although THAT's true all AROUND now) but if Varly DOES discount his contract ENOUGH, truly INSANE not to bring HIM back still.....