VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Anders Lee and Casey Cizikas every had a objective and an help, and the New York Islanders beat the Vancouver Canucks 6-3 Wednesday evening.
Matt Martin, Matthew Barzal, Brock Nelson and Zach Parise additionally scored for the Islanders, and Cal Clutterbuck had two assists. Ilya Sorokin made 34 saves in New York’s first recreation since Feb. 2.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Elias Petterson and Luke Schenn had targets for the Canucks. Jaroslav Halak was pulled late within the first interval after giving up 5 targets on 12 pictures. Thatcher Demko stopped 14 of the 15 pictures he confronted.
The Canucks, coming off a 5-1 victory over Arizona on Tuesday, have been sluggish and sloppy to begin the sport and surrendered three targets in a 31-second span early within the first interval.
It was a “large” first interval for the Islanders, Barzal mentioned.
“Any time you get three within the first 4 minutes, particularly after a troublesome loss in Seattle and getting back from the break, we knew we needed to begin sizzling and get going and simply to get lead like that was good,” he mentioned.
Vancouver, which was down 5-0 when it switched from Halak to Demko, rallied within the second and pulled inside two targets however couldn’t dig itself out from the early gap.
The beginning was “inexcusable,” mentioned defenseman Luke Schenn.
“They got here out onerous, they have been flying, they have been at one other gear. We have been on our heels, they have been on their toes and so they have been throughout us and clearly they capitalized on their alternatives, too,” he mentioned. “And earlier than you understand it, it was bang, bang, bang and within the web. And we’re chasing the sport from there.”
Ekman-Larsson gave the Canucks a glimmer of hope with lower than two minutes to go within the first. He picked up a unfastened puck and fired it previous Sorokin stick facet to get Vancouver on the scoreboard.
Pettersson made it 5-2 with slightly below seven minutes remaining within the second as he obtained a cross from Vasily Podkolzin under the objective line, muscled his method to the highest of the crease and compelled a shot behind Sorokin’s skate for his thirteenth of the season.
Schenn introduced Vancouver inside two 91 seconds later with a drive from contained in the blue line that squeaked by way of Sorokin’s pads.
“It’s generally tougher being up 5-0 within the first interval,” Barzal mentioned. “You understand you’re simply gonna see heavy stress all the evening and Sorokin made some massive saves, so it was recreation for us to get again on observe.”
Cizikas sealed the win with 5:41 left within the third, chasing down Canucks defenseman Tyler Myers deep in Vancouver territory and choosing his pocket. The middle pulled up simply earlier than the objective line and despatched a cross to Martin on the prime of the crease. He beat Demko clear along with his second objective of the season to make it 6-3.
“The message is that you simply’ve obtained to get comfy when the video games are tight,” Islanders coach Barry Trotz mentioned. “Immediately we obtained off to a fast lead after which it began tightening up slightly bit after which we grew to become comfy once more. I appreciated the demeanor on the bench and I appreciated our dedication stage.”
Vancouver’s first interval was a large number, with the house crew struggling to get out of its personal finish and gifting New York scoring probabilities.
Parise was first on the board, jamming a shot by way of Halak’s pads 3:25 in. Nelson adopted 18 seconds later, tipping in a shot from Adam Pelech contained in the blue line. Lee made it 3-0 one other 13 seconds later when Ryan Pulock’s lengthy shot from the appropriate level deflected off his skate in entrance and previous Halak.
Cizikas made it 4-0 with 6:49 left within the opening interval as he obtained a cross from Anthony Beauvillier and fired it over Halak’s pad.
Boos rained down 3:08 later as Barzal despatched a backhand prime shelf and in off a breakaway to place the Islanders up 5-0. That ended Halak’s evening towards his former crew.
It marked the primary time the Islanders scored 5 targets within the first interval since March 3, 1996, after they misplaced 7-5 to Winnipeg.
Within the dressing room through the first intermission, Vancouver coach Bruce Boudreau was frank along with his crew.
“I mainly mentioned, ‘I don’t care what the rating is. However we now have to learn to play higher and we need to win the second interval. And if we win the interval by sufficient to even take into consideration profitable the sport, then we’ll fear in regards to the third interval. However we are able to’t proceed enjoying mainly like we’re enjoying,’” he mentioned.
“And I feel they obtained the message and performed a extremely good second interval. Simply if you quit 5 targets towards the New York Islanders, you’re not going to catch them.”
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