Takeaways: Strong Second Period Leads Isles to 4-3 Win Over Canes

After a stumble on Thursday night against Seattle, the New York Islanders responded with a strong effort in a 4-3 over the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday evening at UBS Arena.

A new-look top line led the way, as JG Pageau (1G, 2A), Bo Horvat (1G, 1A) and Max Tsylpakov (1G, 1A) combined for three goals and seven total points in the win. Oliver Wahlstrom also found the back of the while Ilya Sorokin stopped 28-of-31 shots in the win.

Andrei Svechnikov scored a pair of power-play goals for the Hurricanes, and Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored an even strength goal, while Pytor Kochetkov stopped 21-of-25 in the loss. Shayne Gostisbehere had three assists.

The win snapped a two-game winless skid for the Islanders and was the team’s first regular season win on home ice against Carolina since Nov. 24, 2018.

“It was a nice response after a disappointing loss against Seattle,” Head Coach Patrick Roy said. “I was happy with the way we bounced back tonight, and we played a strong game. So that was a good team win.”

HOW IT HAPPENED

While the Islanders had some jump – and a pair of power plays out of the gate – the Hurricanes opened scoring on their first man advantage. Svechnikov’s first goal came on a bad bounce for the Isles, as his centering feed for Seth Jarvis caromed off Noah Dobson and past Sorokin at 15:43.

Dobson helped make amends in the second period, as he showed great patience on a two-on-one creating a lane and feeding a pass to Pageau to tie the score 1-1 at 6:05.

Carolina retook the lead with another power-play goal at the 9:23 mark, as Svechnikov swept in a puck that pinballed back and forth through the crease before finding the Russian winger’s stick. That wound up being the last shot of the period for the Hurricanes, as the Isles stormed back in the latter half.

New York got the scored tied in under a minute, as Casey Cizikas caused a Dmitry Orlov turnover, leading to Wahlstrom scooping up the puck snapping a lot shot through Kochetkov at 10:06.

Tsyplakov gave the Islanders their first lead in three games when he put the Islanders head 3-2 at 16:16 of the middle frame. Tsyplakov’s initial shot from the high slot was blocked, but he followed up on his own rebound before sweeping the puck past a downed Kochetkov.

Horvat capped the four-goal period at the 18:55 mark, burying a cross-ice pass from Pageau.

While the offense broke out in the second period, the Islanders defense also stepped up, holding Carolina to just two shots in the period, including none in the second half of the period.

“We played connected,” Pageau said. “When we had the puck in our zone, we had a lot of commitment, a lot of blocked shots from our guys. And when we had the puck, we were getting open for each other.”

The Hurricanes got back to their shot-from-everywhere mentality in the third, outshooting the Islanders 19-2 in the final frame. Sorokin was good when he needed to be, notably stopping a Martin Necas one-timer to keep it a two-goal game. Sorokin wound up stopping all four shots from Necas, who entered the game as the NHL’s second leading scorer.

The Hurricanes made it interesting in the final minute, as Kotkaniemi scored with 48.8 seconds to play, but that was as close as they came.

“We kept our focus,” Roy said. “We were on a mission tonight to win the game. And when we made a few mistakes in that third period, Ilya was outstanding.”

HORVAT BREAKS OUT

It was only a matter of time before Horvat broke out of his slump – and he did so with the game-winning goal on Saturday.

The Islanders center snapped a 13-game goal drought on Saturday, putting an exclamation point on what was already a productive game for the veteran.

Horvat finished with two points (1G, 1A) but also played an uncredited role on Pageau’s goal to tie the score 1-1 at 6:05 of the second period. It was Horvat who won a puck battle along the wall in the defensive zone, which led to the rush up the ice that resulted in a goal.

He picked up the secondary assist on Tsyplakov’s goal to make it 3-2 and after a few good looks early in the game, found the back of the net at 18:55.

The celebration said it all, as Horvat skated to high-fives down the bench.

“I’d like to say that I've been feeling it starting to come for, seems like 13-14 games,” Horvat said. “It just was one of those things where it finally went in for me. And I mean, I’ve said it before, and I'll say again, as long as my linemates keeps scoring and we keep getting wins, I'll keep passing the puck too.”

Horvat finished the game with a goal, an assist, four shots on goal, six total attempts, four hits and won seven-of-10 face-offs.

ODDS AND ENDS:

• The Islanders blocked a season-high 32 shots
• Alexander Romanov blocked a game-high eight shots
• Isaiah George blocked six shots, the most for any rookie in a game this season
• With his 102^nd win, Sorokin passed Thomas Greiss and took sole possession of fifth place on the Islanders all-time goalie wins list
• The Islanders power play went 0-for-2, while the penalty kill went 1-for-3

LINEUP CHANGES:

Matt Martin drew back into the lineup, as Pierre Engvall came out as a healthy scratch.

NOTABLE QUOTE:

Horvat on the instant chemistry between himself, Tsyplakov and Pageau:

“Tsyplakov is just a really smart player and can make plays, and Pageau is the exact same way. He proved that on that pass and obviously the finish he had there on Dobson's feed. We're just reading off each other well and obviously we're want to keep that going and build momentum.”

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders wrap up a back-to-back set on Sunday evening in Ottawa when they take on the Senators. Puck drop is at 5 p.m.