3 Takeaways: Isles End California Trip with 4-1 Win Over Sharks

After getting rained on - both literally and figuratively - in Los Angeles, the New York Islanders left California on a sunny note after a 4-1 win over the San Jose Sharks on Saturday night at SAP Center.
The Islanders got four unanswered goals from Jean-Gabriel Pageau (SHG, 1A), Kyle Palmieri, Ryan Pulock (PPG), who picked up their second straight win and finished their California road trip with a 2-1-0 record.

That marked the Islanders first winning California swing since the 2015-16 season and first win at the Shark Tank since Oct. 14, 2017.
"You never want to drop the first one like we did. We showed a lot of character," Pageau said of the winning road trip. "Two games that we needed and we got the job done."
As a result, the Islanders (80 points) leapfrogged the Pittsburgh Penguins (78 points) for the first wild card position in the Eastern Conference and put some distance between themselves and the Florida Panthers (77 points). Both the Penguins and Panthers have two games in hand on the Islanders.

ISLES COME FROM BEHIND FOR SECOND STRAIGHT WIN:

Prior to Saturday's game, Kyle Palmieri remarked on how the Islanders were comfortable when playing from behind.
They weren't rattled by Wednesday's wakeup call 25 seconds into an eventual 6-3 overtime win over Anaheim and Saturday's game followed a familiar script.
ISLANDERS 4, SHARKS 1
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Postgame: Lambert
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KINGER'S CALLS
Pageau's Shorthander
Palmieri's Tip
Pulock's Power-Play Blast
Parise's Deflection
Staten Island native Kevin Labanc opened the scoring at 7:31 of the first period, but the Islanders stuck with their game plan and slowly turned the tide against the Sharks springboarding off JG Pageau's shorthanded goal, which Lambert called a turning point.
"You've got to play a full 60, so whatever happens early, it doesn't really matter either way, you just have to keep playing," Ryan Pulock said. "We know if we keep playing that if we keep doing our job that you know, eventually we'll get some looks."
The Isles seemingly got better as the game wore on, outshooting the Sharks 14-8 in the middle frame and netting a pair of goals to turn a 1-1 tie into a 3-1 advantage. Palmieri followed up his four-point night in Anaheim with a deflection off a Scott Mayfield shot to make it 2-1 at 2:18 of the second period. Pulock blasted his fourth of the season past Kahkonen on the power play at 5:24 to make it 3-1. Pierre Engvall also hit a post in a period that certainly favored the Islanders, though Sorokin came up with a big breakaway save on William Eklund.
The Islanders entered the game 21-3-3 when leading after two periods, meaning Parise effectively iced it with a deflection at 5:19 of the third period. The Islanders locked it down from there, limiting the Sharks to just two high-danger chances for at five-on-five in the third period despite allowing 13 total shots.
With the win, the Islanders improved to 14-17-3 when allowing the opening goal, moving into a five-way tie for the sixth in the league in that category.

PAGEAU PACES ISLES:

JG Pageau was a little hard on himself after Tuesday's loss in LA. Despite scoring a goal, Pageau was more focused on the fact that he was on the ice for a pair of goals against.
Fast forward to Saturday night and Pageau was a well-deserved first star of the game, pacing the Islanders with a two-point night (1G, 1A).
"You could argue he was maybe the best player in the ice for good stretches of it," Head Coach Lane Lambert said. "He doesn't have to be hard on himself after this one because he played really well."
Pageau's shorthanded goal stood out as the highlight of the night, getting the Islanders in a 1-1 game in the first period. Pageau held off former Ottawa Senators teammate Erik Karlsson - who was at the end of a 1:48 shift - before cutting across the net with a power move and tucking the puck behind Kaapo Kahkonen.
That was Pageau's second attempt at a power move after a quality save from Kahkonen earlier in the period. The center also stepped up for a big block on a Karlsson slapper on a Sharks power play in the second period, one of his two blocked shots on the night.
Pageau's final stat line included a goal, an assist, three hits, two blocks and a team-high tying 17 face-offs, though his six wins had him under 50%. Since returning from an injury that kept him out for a month, Pageau has pieced together a three-game point streak (2G, 2A).
"The first game back is always hard," Pageau said. "At the same time, I had time to rest and my energy level is good. We've had a couple of days here to recover after our last game, so I'm sure everyone felt good tonight."

SPECIAL TEAMS CONTRIBUTE ON SCORESHEET:

Contributions from both special teams powered Saturday's win, as the Islanders got both power-play goal and a shorthanded tally - the first time since Nov. 23, 2022 they'd gotten a goal from both special teams in the same game.
The shorthanded unit struck first, as Pageau netted his team-leading third shorty of the season to tie the score 1-1 at 16:08 of the opening frame. The shorthanded goal, which Lambert called the turning points, breathed some life into the Islanders, who were 0-for-3 on the power play at that point and trailed 1-0 off a Kevin Labanc goal shortly after the Isles second power play.
The man advantage unit came through in the second period, as Ryan Pulock stepped into his signature slapper, blasting a nifty, no-look feed from Hudson Fasching through traffic and Kahkonen. The slap shot goal was Pulock's first of the season, as his previous three goals are credited as wristers.
"Sometimes [slap shots] are hard to come by a little bit this year," Pulock said. "So I was able to get a good puck and get one on net, good screen in front."
The Isles power play finished the game 1-for-5 and while San Jose is well outside of the playoff picture and towards the bottom of the league, the Sharks brought the seventh-ranked penalty kill into the game.
The power-play goal was just the Islanders' fourth since Mathew Barzal was sidelined with a lower-body injury on Feb. 18. The Isles are 4-for-35 (11.4%) on the power play since then.
The penalty kill also did its job defensively, killing off both Sharks power plays.

NEXT GAME

The Islanders return home to take on the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday night at UBS Arena at 7:30 p.m. It's also
Butch Goring Legends Night
and the first 10,000 fans will receive a Butch Goring bobblehead.