3 Takeaways: Isles Score Last-Minute Win Over Canes

While the New York Islanders play had picked up over the past month, Head Coach Barry Trotz wanted to see his team's record improve against playoff-bound teams.
The Islanders entered Friday's game with a 7-22-2 record vs playoff teams, so that made Friday's 2-1 win over the Metropolitan Division-leading Carolina Hurricanes even sweeter.
"You know we haven't won in this building for a while," Trotz said. "So it's good to get a win here for sure."

With the win, the Islanders improved to 12-4-1 in their last 17 games and while Friday's victory was a quality win, it was also a dramatic one to boot.

The Islanders had a 1-0 lead heading into the final minute before Vincent Trocheck tied the score with 56.8 seconds to play. Overtime seemed inevitable, until Kyle Palmieri broke the tie with 14.1 seconds to play, stunning the crowd at PNC Arena and propelling the Islanders to the regulation win.
"Pretty big wave of motions for sure," Matt Martin said. "What a goal, I mean, the body control by Palmieri. It's hard to do. So a really nice goal and I'm happy for him."
ISLES 2, CANES 1
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Postgame: Parise and Palmieri
Postgame: Martin and Pageau
KINGER'S CALLS
Pageau Extends Goal Streak
Palmieri's Late Winner
Palmieri's goal - 199th-career tally - came at the end of a frantic finish to the third period. After a 1:09 stretch of four-on-four hockey, Zach Parise had a chance to seal the game, but put a wraparound try through the crease and Andersen's legs.
Carolina pounced on the opportunity and found a way to tie the score with their net empty. Skating six-on-five, Tony DeAngelo spotted Sebastian Aho at the side of the net, sending a slap-pass to the Hurricanes' leading scorer. Aho redirected the puck across the crease to Trocheck, who knocked in the round with 56.8 to play.
Trotz said that the Islanders' bench didn't dip after allowing the tying goal, but galvanized themselves.
"Our bench was fantastic today they were they're saying 'let's go let's go after these guys,'" Trotz said.
That's exactly what the Islanders did. Working down low, Palmieri went around the Carolina net, fighting off Brady Sjkei before outmuscling the defenseman and curling into the slot, where he beat Andersen with a high shot. The goal was Palmieri's team-leading sixth game-winning goal and the 38th game winner of his career.
"He's built like a fridge," Brock Nelson told the Islanders radio crew after the game. "He can hold guys off."
The Islanders (75 points) are still 11 points back of the Washington Capitals (86 points) for the second Wild Card spot, but are planning to stay in the fight till the end of the season.
"We are playing well right now," Parise said. "We're having a lot of fun. We're getting good results, but I think we're enjoying the process throughout the game and like Palmieri was saying, I mean, we're enjoying playing for each other and we win by committee. And who knows, you know what, we're going to keep playing hard. We're going to keep trying to win games and hopefully, get lucky, but we're not going to quit, we're going to keep going."

SOROKIN SHARP IN RETURN:

Ilya Sorokin came within one minute of tying the franchise's shutout record, but even with the Hurricanes spoiling Sorokin's bid for a seventh clean, the netminder looked good in his return after missing five games with an upper-body injury.
Sorokin stopped 20-of-21 shots on Friday in his first action since March 27. He was at his best in the first period, stopping all 12 shots he saw as the Hurricanes attempted to blitz the Islanders. His best save of the night was a somewhat fortunate one, as Martin Necas had a look at an open net on a Canes' power play, but shot into Sorokin's pad. The goalie also caught a pair of breaks, as Derek Stepan and Brett Pesce each found iron.
The Islanders helped their netminder out by limiting Carolina to nine shots on goal in the final 40 minutes of play, including just one shot on goal in the second period. With the win, Sorokin improved his record to 9-3-2 in his last 14 games and has allowed two-or-fewer goals in 11 of those contests.
"He's been doing it all year," Martin said of Sorokin. "We didn't get off to the best start. Obviously he made a couple of big saves early. The game could have gone differently. You know, if he doesn't make a few big saves in the first 10 minutes and I think we really found our game controlled the play the rest of the way. And they still had some looks late and the penalty kill was outstanding. A lot of commitment from everybody."
The Islanders penalty kill went 4-four-4 on Friday night.

PAGEAU POTS GOAL IN THIRD STRAIGHT GAME:

Pageau extended his goal streak to three games, opening the scoring against the Hurricanes. Martin picked up a loose puck behind the net and found a wide open Pageau posted up in front. The French Canadian made no mistake in tight, roofing a shot high on Andersen at 8:24.
The goal was Pageau's fifth in his last three games.

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders five-game road trip concludes on Saturday night in St. Louis as the Islanders face the Blues in the season-series finale between the two teams. Puck drop is set for 8 p.m. eastern.