3 Takeaways: Barzal Leads Isles 6-2 Bounce-Back Effort Over Canucks

Vancouver BC isn't just a beautiful city on Canada's west coast, it's becoming something of a get-right spot for the New York Islanders.
Last season, after going into the All-Star break on a 2-0 loss to the Seattle Kraken on home ice, the Islanders exploded for a five-goal first period in an eventual 6-3 win in Vancouver. Tuesday night presented a similar situation. After suffering a 4-1 loss at the hands of the Kraken, the Islanders got their game in order with a 6-2 victory over the Canucks at Rogers Arena.

"A good team learns from its mistake," JG Pageau said. "I don't think we played good last game. I don't think we came out the way we wanted today, but we are all competitors and I thought we showed up after that, and we were the better team the rest of the game."
Mathew Barzal led the way with a three-point game (1G, 2A), while Aatu Raty, JG Pageau (2G), Anders Lee and Casey Cizikas (1G, 1A) all scored for the Islanders. In total, 11 players hit the scoresheet for the Islanders while Parker Wotherspoon recorded his first NHL point, an assist, in his first game in his hometown. Bo Horvat scored a pair of goals for the Canucks.

LINE CHANGES SPARK ISLANDERS:

The first 10 minutes of Tuesday's game looked a lot like the first 10 minutes of Sunday's loss to Seattle, with the Islanders hemmed in their own end. While they steadied themselves in the back half of the first period, they still found themselves down 1-0 after 20 minutes, courtesy a Bo Horvat redirection.
ISLANDERS 6, CANUCKS 2
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Postgame: Barzal
Postgame: Cizikas
Postgame: Pageau
Postgame: Wotherspoon
KINGER'S CALLS
Raty's Second Goal
Pageau's PPG
Barzal's GWG
Lee Goes Shelf
Cizikas Snipes
Pageau SHG
Lane Lambert had seen enough, shuffling his lines to start the second period to get his team's attention. Lambert put Casey Cizikas back up with Mathew Barzal and Josh Bailey, slotting Hudson Fasching with Anders Lee and Brock Nelson and sliding Anthony Beauvillier with JG Pageau and Zach Parise.
So of course the first Islanders goal came from the only intact line, as Matt Martin and Ross Johnston linked up with a wide open Aatu Raty, who beat Spencer Martin blocker side for his second career goal.
"We came in here and after the first and we talked to each other and we knew wanted to be better," Cizikas said. "We got a big goal from Marty, Johnston and Raty to get us going at a key time and once that happened we started turning the wheels and everyone started contributing."
That was the spark the Islanders needed, as they rattled off two more goals from Pageau and Barzal to grab a 3-1 lead, though Horvat's second of the night - a power-play tally - briefly made it a close contest.
The Islanders were the better team in the final two thirds of the game and put the game away in the third period. Brock Nelson took advantage of one of the Canucks' 13 turnovers deep in the zone and fed Lee, who roofed his 14th of the season. Cizikas made it 5-2 by the midway point of the period, taking a feed from Barzal and sniping Martin at 9:44. Pageau iced the game with a shorthanded empty-netter for good measure.

HOME COOKING EXTENDS BARZAL'S GOAL STREAK:

Mathew Barzal's emphatic celebration said it all.
The Coquitlam, BC native sent a wrister far side on Martin to put the Islanders up 3-1 in the middle frame, raising his arm, sheathing his stick and letting out a celebratory roar in front of a suite full of family and friends. Barzal's been plenty animated in scoring his previous 100 goals, but there was definitely a little extra on Tuesday.
"Sometimes when your start hasn't been great and you get one it feels a little better," Barzal said. "It's always just nice to score here. I know my family's here. I know a lot of people are coming to watch me, so I was excited."

Home cooking as done Barzal well, as he upped his career total to eight points (2G, 6A) in five trips to Rogers Arena. Per Eric Hornick, Barzal became the first player born in British Columbia to record points in his first eight games against the Canucks (2G, 10A).
Tuesday also marked his fourth straight game with a goal, which set a new career-long. Barzal has five goals and seven total points over that span.
"It's just a matter of making the right play," Barzal said. "I feel like a couple times early in the year I had empty nets that got blocked and I could have had four or five that just didn't happen. Hockey is a game of bounces, it really is, so I'm fortunate to be on the right side of those lately."
Barzal's playmaking was still on display with a slick pass to Cizikas to put the Isles up 5-1, as well as the secondary helper on Pageau's power-play goal.

POWER PLAY SHUFFLE RESULTS IN GOAL:

The Islanders debuted some new-look power-play units on Tuesday night.
The first unit over the boards consisted of Ryan Pulock on the point with Zach Parise, Josh Bailey and Mathew Barzal and JG Pageau.
The second unit consisted of Noah Dobson on the point, with Anthony Beauvillier, Hudson Fasching, Anders Lee and Brock Nelson.

The power play struck on its second chance of the game. Ryan Pulock's point shot hit a body in front of the net and popped out to JG Pageau, who chipped in a rebound at 12:56.
The power-play goal was just the Islanders second in the past 11 games, a 2-for-32 stretch for the club. The Isles finished the game 1-for-2 on the man advantage with four shots.
"We just tried to keep things simple and put pucks on net with traffic and it worked," Pageau said. We want to keep building on that. Special teams are very important, power plays and PKs are big for us and we take a lot of pride in that."

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders head to Alberta for a back-to-back set starting on Thursday night in Edmonton against the Oilers. Puck drop is 9 p.m. et.