3 Takeaways: Isles Top Red Wings 5-3 

The New York Islanders pulled out a gritty 5-3 over the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night, extending their win streak to two games and sweeping the road trip.

Brock Nelson (2G), Mathew Barzal, Casey Cizikas and Pierre Engvall (ENG) powered the offense for the Islanders, while Ilya Sorokin made 22 saves in the win. The Red Wings put up a fight with a pair of goals from defenseman Olli Maatta and a tally from Patrick Kane.

The win was the Islanders’ second straight and halted the Red Wings winning streak at six. More importantly, Thursday’s win came in regulation against a team the Isles are chasing in the wild card standings.

“We want it to be [the start of something],” Nelson said after the win. “We had a good trip, now we have to go back home and get some rest because it doesn’t get any easier for us.”

With an important two points, the Islanders (64 points) improved to fifth in the Metro and gained ground in the race for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, narrowing the gap to eight points between the Red Wings (72 points), who occupy the first wild card spot. The Isles also pulled within six points of the Tampa Bay Lightning (70 points) as the Isles have three games in-hand over Tampa.

NELSON-HORVAT-BARZAL COME THROUGH FOR ISLES

Brock Nelson, Mathew Barzal and Bo Horvat – a line that Head Coach Patrick Roy called “game-changers’ - combined for four points (3G, 1A) and 10 shots in the win on Thursday night.

The trio came through in a critical point in the game when the game was tied at three apiece late in the third. After pressuring in the offensive zone, a Noah Dobson rebound caromed towards the corner where Barzal tracked it down and flung a sharp angle shot off goaltender Alex Lyon and into the back of the net to take a 4-3 advantage at 13:58 of the period. That marked the second straight game Barzal factored in on the game-winner after setting up Horvat on Monday in Dallas.

"In the third, I thought that line of Barzal, Horvat and Brock suddenly started to connect more, they started really working together," Roy said.

The top line broke out offensively in a gutsy win, as Brock Nelson netted two goals on the night to add to his team-leading 27 goals of the season.

Nelson had a nifty play on the opening goal, as he stripped Ben Chiarot of the puck in the slot and stuck a shot past Lyon to get the Isles on the board at 12:11 of the first period.

Tied at two apiece, Nelson found the back of the net for his second of the night, converting a power-play goal. After sustaining significant o-zone pressure early into the man advantage, Nelson wristed home his second goal of the night from the right circle at 5:04 of the third period for the Isles to leap ahead, 3-2.

While Horvat didn’t record a point on Thursday, the Islanders center won 16-of-21 faceoffs (76%). His 16 face-off wins accounted for over half of the Islanders total (30) on the night.

ISLES LET MULTIPLE LEADS SLIP

The victory didn’t come without the Islanders’ familiar woes, as they let a 2-0 and 3-2 leads slip, though they were able to pull out a win. Thursday marked the third time in the past two weeks the Isles saw a two-goal lead slip away, though they are 2-0-1 in those games. They’ve allowed teams to rally back from multi-goal deficits 15 times this season.

“Everyone makes a big deal of letting leads go but I mean, that’s what happens when you have the lead,” Roy said.

After the Isles built a two-goal advantage after the opening 20 minutes, the tide started to turn as the Red Wings began to gain momentum.

Olli Maatta got the Red Wings on the board with a one-timer that beat Sorokin at 5:04 of the second period. After getting through some sustained Detroit pressure in the second, the Red Wings struck early in the third as Patrick Kane beat JG Pageau in a race to the net and buried the game-tying goal 10 seconds into the third period. In doing so, Kane extended his point streak to 10 games (6G, 9A).

After the Islanders recovered a one goal advantage, the Red Wings bit back again, as Maatta had an open net to shoot at, beating a diving Sorokin to bury his second goal of the night at 10:49 of the third period.

That’s where the Isles ultimately steeled themselves, Barzal scored the fourth goal for the Islanders and Pierre Engvall buried the Islanders first empty netter of the season to recover from the two blown leads. While there were some dicey moments in the third, the Islanders improved to 19-1-6 in games where they had the lead after two periods.

"That was such a big game for us," Barzal said. "It was a good back and forth hockey game, it's a good team over there. It probably could have gone either way tonight, so I'm glad we came out on the right side."

ISLES SPECIAL TEAMS REBOUND

The Islanders had a positive performance in both special teams categories, as the Isles went 1-for-3 on the power play and a perfect 2-for-2 on the penalty kill.

Nelson’s power play goal to take a 3-2 advantage proved to be timely for the Islanders, though Roy was encouraged by other chances in both power play units throughout the game.

“I thought we had some good looks in the first power play,” Roy said. “Anders had a great chance, but I was very happy with Brock’s goal.”

The goal was much-needed after the Islanders penalty has been struggling lately, going 1-for-15 heading into Thursday’s contest. The PK locked it down, going a perfect 2-for-2 on the night after allowing a goal in three consecutive games.