The Islanders picked up two wins across their three games played this week. They beat the Sabres at home and the Penguins on the road before losing to the Capitals at home. With the four points gained, the Islanders sit at a total of 76 points on the season. They drop to the second wild card spot but have a three-point lead over the next closest team in the Panthers. 

Hudson Fasching Plays Hero in Crucial Home Win Against the Sabres

The Islanders opened up the week at home against the Buffalo Sabres, who are right in the thick of the wild card race. Both teams were in desperate need of two points, creating an electric atmosphere at UBS Arena. Scoring opened up five minutes into the second when Dylan Cozens burst into the offensive zone and beat Sorokin with a strong wrist shot. Casey Cizikas found the equalizer later in the period, scoring off of a perfect setup pass from Hudson Fasching. 

Within the first two minutes of the third, a rebounded shot went off of Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen’s pads and right to Josh Bailey who backhanded it in to give the Isles a 2-1 lead. However, it only took a few minutes for Islanders alumni Kyle Okposo to tie the game up again with a good shot through a lot of traffic. 

The Islanders then came up with a quick response of their own to take back the lead. At the 7:37 mark, a shot deflected off the knee of Fasching and into the back of the net. It was initially ruled a kick and no goal, but after an extensive review, it was overturned and ruled a goal. After taking back the lead the Isles continued their great defensive play as of late and kept the Sabres at bay. They won a crucial two points over the Sabres in the 3-2 home victory. 

Islanders Stun Penguins in Third Period Yet Again

This final meeting between the Islanders and the Penguins followed a very similar pattern to the previous two meetings. Even though Anders Lee scored a power-play goal to put the Isles on the board first, they quickly lost control. At 11:07, Jake Guentzel deflected a shot past Sorokin to tie it up at one. Then in the final minutes of the first, Evgeni Malkin set up Jason Zucker for a great look in the slot to give the Penguins a 2-1 lead. 

The Penguins again began to dominate play in the second while the Islanders struggled to keep up. Fortunately, the only damage done was a goal that deflected off of Josh Archibald’s glove. Things started to look bleak in the third as the Isles squandered two power-play chances and the game progressed into its final minutes. 

But it wasn’t over yet as Fasching came up huge yet again. He centered a feed from Cizikas and deposited it past Tristan Jarry to make it a one-goal game. Then with the net empty, Lee scored his second of the game on a deflection to bring the game to overtime and secure a big point. In the overtime period, a poke check from Sorokin helped set up Brock Nelson for a game-winning breakaway goal. The 4-3 overtime win marked the first time in Islanders history they swept the season series against the Penguins. 

Capitals Rout the Islanders at Home

In the week’s final contest, the Islanders hosted the Capitals for their second meeting of the season. After blowing a 3-0 lead in their last contest against the Capitals, the Islanders sought some redemption. The Isles got on the board first with an attempted pass from Pierre Engvall deflecting off the stick of a nearby defender and into the back of the net. Unfortunately, that would be the last highlight for the Islanders on this night. It just took a minute later for Dylan Strome to score while wide open from the circle to tie things up. T.J. Oshie then provided a tip-in goal with less than a minute left in the first to take the lead. 

The Islanders’ defense did have a decent second period, keeping the game at a 2-1 score throughout. However, they completely fell apart in the third period. Anthony Mantha, Nic Dowd and Nicklas Backstrom all scored on Varlamov to squash any chance of a third-period comeback. Darcy Kuemper made 29 total saves to keep the Islanders’ offense quiet and secure the 5-1 victory for the Capitals. Also notable from this game was the Islanders’ lack of success on the man advantage, going 0/5 on the power play in this one. 

Takeaway

Despite a lousy ending to the week, things couldn’t have gone much better for the Islanders. They played an all-around great game against the Sabres to help create some distance in the standings. The proceeding game against the Penguins wasn’t as great. But the team stepped up when it mattered most and stole two points on the road against another team with them in the wild card race. They seem to have rediscovered their third-period magic from earlier in the season. Prior to the Capitals’ loss, they were on a stretch outscoring their opponents 17-1 in the third over their last 10 games.

Even with the bad loss, they end the week still holding onto a playoff spot by multiple points and some of their competition falling off. But this race is far from over and the Islanders need to keep up their winning ways. Conceivably, if they keep winning two out of every three games they’ll be at a great pace to hold onto that playoff spot. To do that they’ll have to quickly wipe away Saturday’s loss and continue to enact that tight defensive structure that had been serving them so well. 

3 Stars of the Week

1. Hudson Fasching (Two points including GWG vs. Sabres, goal vs. Penguins)

2. Casey Cizikas (Goal, two assists)

3. Anders Lee (Two goals including a game-tying goal vs. Penguins)

Credits

Featured image courtesy of Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

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