3 Takeaways: Nelson Lifts Isles Over Blue Jackets 3-2

The New York Islanders picked up their third-straight win on Friday night, dispatching the Columbus 3-2 on Black Friday at Nationwide Arena.
Brock Nelson broke open a 2-2 tie at 6:10 of the third period, sending the Islanders to their fifth-straight win over their Metropolitan Division rivals. Oliver Wahlstrom and Jean-Gabriel Pageau built a 2-0 lead for the Islanders, while Yegor Chinakhov and Kent Johnson scored power-play goals for the Blue Jackets to tie the score.
The win was the Islanders third straight overall and fifth-straight against the Blue Jackets.
"It's a huge win," Nelson said. "Whenever you're able to kind of string together a few, there's no easy night in this league. Everybody's out there working hard and it's always going to be a battle and it's nice to find different ways [to win].

Video: Islanders beat Blue Jackets for 3rd straight victory

BARZAL AND PAGEAU STAY HOT:

When you're hot, you're hot, and both Mathew Barzal (2A) and JG Pageau (1A) extended their respective point streaks on Friday night.
Barzal extended his point streak to a season-long seven games with an assist on Oliver Wahlstrom's first period tally. Barzal rushed the puck through the neutral zone after Simon Holmstrom made a nifty play along the boards in the Islanders' zone to get him the puck.
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KINGER'S CALLS
Wahlstrom Opens Scoring
Pageau's PPG
Nelson's GWG
"Playing with Barzy, I just have a few extra seconds to think, alright I've got it, what do I'd have to do with this puck next?" Wahlstrom, who has five points in his last seven games, said of Barzal. "So it's good play by him and I mean, it was Holmstrom's first point too, so that was that was cool. That was most important thing there."
The Islanders leading scorer tallied a second point later in the contest, earning an assist on Pageau's power-play goal. With two assists, Barzal recorded his 22nd and 23rd helpers this season and leapfrogged Nathan MacKinnon for the NHL lead.
Barzal has 10 points (2G, 7A) on his seven-game run. Last season Barzal had a nine-game point streak from Dec. 2 to Jan. 13.
As for Pageau, the French-Canadian forward scored his third goal in the past two games - three periods really - potting a power-play goal in the second period to put the Islanders ahead 2-0.
As Noah Dobson's shot caromed off the lively end boards, Pageau was at the side of the net ready to tap in the rebound. Pageau's uptick in power-play goals has coincided with his promotion to the Islanders top unit, where he swapped places with Kyle Palmieri. Four of Pageau's six goals this season have come on the power play.
"He does a really good job in that spot of hunting pucks and getting available for pucks," Head Coach Lane Lambert said of Pageau. "It's a very important position on the power play because you relieve pressure and you recover pucks and he's very good at it."
Pageau now has seven points (5G, 2A) in his last seven games. The versatile forward also played a key role at the face-off dot, winning 15 of his 26 draws (58%) including a key defensive zone draw late after an icing call.

COLUMBUS CLAWS BACK ON THE POWER PLAY:

The Islanders seemed to be in control of the contest after building a 2-0 lead, but Columbus clapped back on a five-on-three power play in the second period with a pair of goals 33 seconds apart.
The Columbus' 31st-ranked power play was a bit of a red herring heading into Friday's contest, as the Blue Jackets owned the league's eighth-ranked power played in the month of November.
They made quick work of the five-on-three opportunity, as Yegor Chinakhov scored 28 seconds into the two-man advantage. Chinakhov beat a screened Ilya Sorokin with a wrister, ending the goalie's shutout streak at 121:55.
That released Adam Pelech, but the Blue Jackets evened the score with Clutterbuck still in the box, as Kent Johnson powered a slap shot through another screen and ultimately Sorokin at 14:38.
Friday marked the second-straight game the Islanders were shorthanded at least four times.
While the two special teams goals were a black mark on an otherwise solid game, the Islanders stayed perfect at five-on-five. High-danger chances were few and far between for both sides, with Columbus earning six at five-on-five to the Islanders' four.

ISLES STEP UP IN THE THIRD PERIOD:

The third period has been the Islanders best this season and Friday night was another example of that.
Tied 2-2, Nelson broke open the game at the 6:10 mark, scooping up the puck in the corner, making a quick move along the goal line and roofing a shot past Joonas Korpisalo after the goalie moved off his post. The goal was Nelson's team-leading 10th this season and the Islanders' 32nd third period goal.
After taking four penalties through two periods, the Islanders stayed disciplined in the final frame and locked the game down defensively. The only scare came late in the third period, but Ilya Sorokin and Alex Romanov teamed up to rob Johnny Gaudreau - Columbus' leading scorer - at the side of the net in the final 90 seconds.
"Obviously, it was a little bit of adversity but that's not a bad thing," Lambert said. "I thought our guys handled it well. At the end of the day, we had to come out and win the third period and win the hockey game."

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders take on the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday night. It's also 80s night and it's going to be totally rad. Puck drop is at 7:30 p.m.