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The New York Islanders defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets in both games of their home-and-home set this week, before shutting out the New York Rangers yesterday.
The Islanders found themselves down against the Blue Jackets on Tuesday, with Vladislav Gavrikov going to the net to bury a rebound. However, Brock Nelson tied the game on a power play a little later and then Josh Bailey capitalized in front, putting the Islanders ahead. New York extended the lead a few minutes into the second period off a goal from Anthony Beauvillier and then Noah Dobson found Zach Parise with a great pass for a tap-in goal, making it a 4-1 game. Columbus really started to take over after that though, with Gavrikov scoring a second goal to cut the lead to two goals and then the Blue Jackets dominated the third period. New York was outshot 16-3 in the final frame and while Oliver Bjorkstrand did bring it to a 4-3 game, Semyon Varlamov came up big and the Islanders held on for the win.
At home on Thursday, New York got off to an excellent start, outshooting Columbus 14-5 in the opening frame. Sebastian Aho opened the scoring with his first goal of the season and then only 11 seconds later, Oliver Wahlstrom made it a 2-0 game, capitalizing off a pass from Zach Parise. The Islanders continued to get some good chances in the second period but it was the Blue Jackets who converted, with goals from Emil Bemstrom and Justin Danforth tying the game. However, the Islanders took the lead back in the third period off an excellent shot from Kyle Palmieri, before Mathew Barzal used his speed to get in alone and get the Islanders their two-goal lead back. Ryan Pulock added an empty net goal later, leading to a 5-2 win.
The Islanders took an early lead yesterday, with Casey Cizikas scoring off a pass from Ryan Pulock and despite managing only five shots in the period, New York limited chances for the Rangers and had a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes. The Islanders extended their lead in the second period, with Matt Martin scoring off a pass from Mathew Barzal. Despite the Islanders not managing a ton of shots, Barzal scored a goal of his own in the third period and New York continued to shut down chances, on route to a 3-0 win.
So the Islanders went 3-for-3 with two road wins this week and outscored their opponents by a 12-5 margin.
The Islanders let up in the back half of their first win against the Blue Jackets but put together a really well-rounded effort in their home win over Columbus on Thursday. Then yesterday, despite being held to only 18 shots, they also did a fairly good job limiting quality chances against the Rangers.
Semyon Varlamov was huge with three strong performances over just four days, with Ilya Sorokin injured. Varlamov stopped 90 of 95 shots and played a key role in the success.
It was great to see the Islanders getting goals from different parts of their lineup as well, with a lot of forwards contributing offensively.
The Islanders have just 15 games remaining, the next four of which come on the road. The second game of their current five-game stretch of road games comes tomorrow against the New Jersey Devils.
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