With Brent Sutter in the house for his Isles Hall of Fame induction, the New York Islanders took care of business on Saturday night with a 4-1 win over the San Jose Sharks at UBS Arena.
It was an important response for the Islanders, who picked up their first win of their seven-game homestand after dropping the first two games.
“We needed it,” Captain Anders Lee said. “We had a great ceremony before the game started, honoring Brent and his career and the building had some extra juice from that. I thought the energy was there from the get-go, we played with our legs and played a good hockey game.”
Mathew Barzal (1G, 1A), Brock Nelson (GWG, 1A), Noah Dobson and Ryan Pulock scored for the Islanders, while Barclay Goodrow scored the lone goal for the Sharks. Marcus Hogberg turned aside 18 of 19 shots in his second win as an Islander and first win on home ice in his fourth start with the team, while Alexandar Georgiev stopped 27 of 31 shots in the loss.
“Obviously with him not being in the league for a few years, I’m sure a lot of people weren’t sure what to expect,” Pulock said. “But every single time he’s been in there he’s been great.”