3 Takeaways: Lee Hat Trick Powers Isles Past Blue Jackets 6-0

Powered by a trio of veterans, a trio of second-period goals and Anders Lee's first-career hat trick, the New York Islanders cruised to a 6-0 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night at UBS Arena.
Lee netted his first three-goal game, while the Islanders also got goals from Brock Nelson (PPG), Josh Bailey (1G, 1A), and JG Pageau (SHG). Ilya Sorokin made 25 saves for his sixth shutout of the season. The Islanders also got both a power play and shorthanded goal in the win, while Ryan Pulock and Anthony Beauvillier each had a team-high three assists.

LEE HAT TRICK HEADLINES BIG NIGHT FROM ISLES VETS:

Anders Lee had been waiting for a text from Eric Boulton for a while.
Boulton, the former Islanders enforcer, is the team's unofficial welcoming committee for what they've dubbed the hat-trick club. That's because despite scoring 31 goals over 15 NHL seasons, the tough guy had more hat tricks than Anders Lee, who entered the contest with 29 two-goal games.
After Lee recorded his first-career hat trick on Thursday, Boulton was one of the first texts waiting on the captain's phone.
ISLANDERS 6, BLUE JACKETS 0
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Full Highlights

KINGER'S CALLS
Nelson's Power-Play Goal
Bailey Goes Five-Hole
Lee's Opening Goal
Pageau's Shorthanded Goal
Lee's Second Goal
Lee Completes Trick
"I've been waiting for that one for a while," Lee said with a laugh.
Lee's trio of goals started with a wrister off an Adam Pelech feed at 13:49 of the second period to put the Isles ahead 3-0. Lee followed it up with a more trademark goal at 11:57 of the third, cleaning up a Beauvillier rebound.
"It's a combination of finding your spots and good looks," Lee said. "You look at some of those ones tonight the puck finds you. It's about putting yourself in a position to get a good bounce and it's a couple of nights in a row of getting a good bounce."
Lee finished the hat trick in the dying seconds of Thursday's affair, knocking in a loose puck with under two seconds to play on a late power play. He was mobbed by his teammates who felt him deserving of the hockey milestone, but perhaps none more than Bailey, who tipped his cap for Lee passing up a hat-trick chance on an empty net a few years back to feed Bailey.
"When a player remembers that, a good deed or an unselfish deed, that goes a long way," Head Coach Barry Trotz said. "Players are human, they remember unselfish deeds. They also remember the selfish ones."
Headlined by Lee's three-goal effort - his fifth goal in the past games - the Islanders' veterans carried the load on Thursday night.
Nelson, Bailey and Lee, who all rank in the top-25 of games played for the franchise, combined for five of the Islanders six goals.
Nelson opened the scoring at 10:32 of the first period, extending his goal streak to three-straight games as he netted his 22nd goal of the season, padding his team lead.
Bailey snapped an 18-game goal drought with his fourth goal of the season, sliding a shot five-hole on Korpisalo at 6:08 of the second period. Bailey was untouched in the slot, the recipient of some quality wall play from Kyle Palmieri, who worked a puck through the skates of Dean Kukan. The goal was Bailey's first since Jan. 18 and was a bit of redemption after the veteran winger had a narrow miss on an open net vs Colorado in the prior game.
"It felt good," Bailey said. "When you go through stretches like this through the course of your career, you just stick with it, there's only one way through it, you can't get around it, you just have to keep working. It was a good opportunity to play with Pageau and Palmieri tonight."
The offensive outburst made it seem like an easy night for Sorokin, but the Isles netminder made some key saves early in the game before the Isles broke the dam open. Sorokin's most consequential save of the night came on Boone Jenner's shorthanded breakaway moments before Nelson's opening goal.

SPECIAL TEAMS SHINE FOR ISLES:

The Islanders don't get five-on-three's very often, but when they do…
The Islanders got their second two-man advantage of the season - last two seasons, actually - and made it count, as Nelson made it 1-0 in the first period.
The Islanders center took a pass from Bailey and split the D while skating backwards before turning and sneaking a shot through Joonas Korpisalo.
In the process the Islanders power play extended its scoring streak to three games, and is 5-for-10 over that span.
Nelson's power-play goal set the tone for a good night for the Islanders special teams, as the power play finished the game two-for-three, while the penalty kill was a perfect five-for-five.
Pageau put an exclamation point on the special team's performance, as he hammered a one-timer off a Ryan Pulock feed to put the Islanders up 4-0 at 17:44 of the second. Pulock, who finished the game with three assists, and Pageau did good work to force Jakub Voracek to turn the puck over to create the two-on-one, which eventually became the Isles' third shorthanded goal of the season. After the goal, but on the same penalty kill, Casey Cizikas and Lee also had a two-on-one, but did not convert.

PELECH PLAYS AGGRESSIVE:

While Adam Pelech didn't get in on the goal rush, the Islanders shutdown defenseman turned in an inspired and aggressive offensive performance on Thursday night.
Pelech was second on the Islanders with five shots on goal - all five came in the first two periods - and was a consistent threat to pinch off the blueline.
Pelech's most aggressive pinch came in the second period, walking the line before skating right down Broadway, wheeling past rookie Cole Sillinger. Pelech made a move in tight, but could not beat Korpisalo.
The defenseman did hit the scoresheet in the second period, picking up the primary assist on Lee's 17th goal of the season. It was the result of another well-timed pinch, skating down the left wall before spotting and hitting a trailing Lee. Quietly, as is usually the case with Pelech, the defenseman has three assists in his last four games.
"We've seen more of that in the last year or two, maybe more this year," Pulock said of Pelech. "He's playing with a lot of confidence and he deserves to. He does his job every night and when you're that good defensively it gives you that confidence to maybe try a little more offensively than maybe you're used to, or actually having the confidence to do it. You're seeing him do that, building off the elite defenseman that he is."

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders wrap up a back-to-back set when they host the Winnipeg Jets on Friday night at UBS Arena. Puck drop is at 7:30 p.m.