Back on home ice, back out of their stupor and back to NHL-.500.
Saturday night shouldn’t be going to alter a big-picture outlook by which the Islanders have began the season far below their standard.
But they needed this 3-1 win over the Blues, to prove something to themselves as much as for another reason after three straight gut-punch losses on the road, every one worse than the last.
To their credit, this victory did offer a reminder that the Islanders can still grind a game out, and even that they’ll, actually, hold a lead.
Doing that on a consistent enough basis to matter remains to be up within the air. But when the Islanders are going to begin constructing winning habits, it needs to begin somewhere.
Step 1: Constructing on a lead, perhaps with a power-play goal.
Check.
That got here courtesy of Brock Nelson, who took the demon of 1-0 leads blown in Calgary and Detroit and brushed it right off the Islanders’ shoulders late within the second period.
After Blues defenseman Ryan Suter went off for tripping, Nelson converted the team’s first power-play goal for the reason that win over Vancouver eight days ago — and his first of the season — with a one-timer from his knees after Max Tsyplakov’s feed to the slot from behind the web.
What was a strenuous 1-0 became a lighter 2-0, with the Islanders feeling like they only might find a way to hold over two periods’ value of strong defense and forechecking into the third.
Ilya Sorokin, who earned his one centesimal victory, was on his game, too, recording a big-time stop on Nathan Walker late within the second to preserve the two-goal lead heading into the third.
Any notion that the Islanders would ride that feeling into a simple victory, though, was shattered lower than a minute into the third.
Isaiah George took a cross-checking penalty 35 seconds in and 10 seconds after that, Jake Neighbours snapped one in from the left post to make it 2-1.
Noah Dobson appeared to provide the Islanders a reprieve with 8:27 to go when he scored from the proper circle, but that was quickly brought back for goaltender interference after a Blues challenge, with Kyle Palmieri visibly impeding Jordan Binnington.
On one other night, that may need set the Islanders up for an excellent larger punch to the gut.
On this one, they brushed it right off and kept going.
And at five-on-six, as an alternative of completing the collapse, Palmieri added his second goal of the sport into the empty net to seal two badly needed points.
The Islanders set a tone early on in the sport, quickly establishing a forecheck and possessing the majority of the puck in the primary period. They took a 1-0 lead on the 18:51 mark when Palmieri ripped one past Binnington from the slot after the Islanders forced a turnover within the neutral zone.
It was low-event hockey, the sort you associate with the Islanders and the sort they did not convert into wins throughout last week.
You couldn’t have been blamed at that time for figuring that regardless of the Islanders did early in the sport won’t last. When you’ve watched this team within the last week, or within the last 12 months, you understand it has rarely done so.
Saturday proved an exception to the rule.
Now the Islanders have to rewrite the rulebook.
Back on home ice, back out of their stupor and back to NHL-.500.
Saturday night shouldn’t be going to alter a big-picture outlook by which the Islanders have began the season far below their standard.
But they needed this 3-1 win over the Blues, to prove something to themselves as much as for another reason after three straight gut-punch losses on the road, every one worse than the last.
To their credit, this victory did offer a reminder that the Islanders can still grind a game out, and even that they’ll, actually, hold a lead.
Doing that on a consistent enough basis to matter remains to be up within the air. But when the Islanders are going to begin constructing winning habits, it needs to begin somewhere.
Step 1: Constructing on a lead, perhaps with a power-play goal.
Check.
That got here courtesy of Brock Nelson, who took the demon of 1-0 leads blown in Calgary and Detroit and brushed it right off the Islanders’ shoulders late within the second period.
After Blues defenseman Ryan Suter went off for tripping, Nelson converted the team’s first power-play goal for the reason that win over Vancouver eight days ago — and his first of the season — with a one-timer from his knees after Max Tsyplakov’s feed to the slot from behind the web.
What was a strenuous 1-0 became a lighter 2-0, with the Islanders feeling like they only might find a way to hold over two periods’ value of strong defense and forechecking into the third.
Ilya Sorokin, who earned his one centesimal victory, was on his game, too, recording a big-time stop on Nathan Walker late within the second to preserve the two-goal lead heading into the third.
Any notion that the Islanders would ride that feeling into a simple victory, though, was shattered lower than a minute into the third.
Isaiah George took a cross-checking penalty 35 seconds in and 10 seconds after that, Jake Neighbours snapped one in from the left post to make it 2-1.
Noah Dobson appeared to provide the Islanders a reprieve with 8:27 to go when he scored from the proper circle, but that was quickly brought back for goaltender interference after a Blues challenge, with Kyle Palmieri visibly impeding Jordan Binnington.
On one other night, that may need set the Islanders up for an excellent larger punch to the gut.
On this one, they brushed it right off and kept going.
And at five-on-six, as an alternative of completing the collapse, Palmieri added his second goal of the sport into the empty net to seal two badly needed points.
The Islanders set a tone early on in the sport, quickly establishing a forecheck and possessing the majority of the puck in the primary period. They took a 1-0 lead on the 18:51 mark when Palmieri ripped one past Binnington from the slot after the Islanders forced a turnover within the neutral zone.
It was low-event hockey, the sort you associate with the Islanders and the sort they did not convert into wins throughout last week.
You couldn’t have been blamed at that time for figuring that regardless of the Islanders did early in the sport won’t last. When you’ve watched this team within the last week, or within the last 12 months, you understand it has rarely done so.
Saturday proved an exception to the rule.
Now the Islanders have to rewrite the rulebook.
