Isles’ back-to-back streak keeps going
The Islanders were determined to not let this be a back-to-backbreaker.
They came out strong, kept up the attack for most of the game, and survived some dicey moments late in a 2-1 victory over the Wild on Sunday at Barclays Center. The result runs the Islanders’ record to 9-0-0 in the second half of backto-back games this season. On Saturday, they began their Brooklyn matinee weekend with a 4-3 overtime victory over the Avalanche, which improved their mark to 62-1 on front ends.
“I don’t know, we’re just in good shape, I guess,” said Anthony Beauvillier, who scored the Islanders’ first goal and played coy about this undefeated back-to-back trend. “We just don’t want to jinx it, right? It just goes by so fast, these back-to-backs, you don’t really have time to think about it.”
“It’s just focus,” said Ryan Pulock, who assisted on Devon Toews’ winning goal. “A lot of times you feel better physically playing the second game. You have to make sure you’re sharp mentally and we’ve done that all year.”
The Islanders increased their lead over the Capitals to five points (72 to Washington’s 67) atop the Metropolitan Division. Both teams have played 55 games.
The Islanders outshot the Wild 15-9 in the first period and took a 1-0 lead on Beauvillier’s 13th goal of the season, a breakaway that trickled through Minnesota goalie Devan Dubnyk.
“I tried to surprise him five-hole and it went in,” said Beauvillier, who scored for the first time in 12 games and was full of praise for Dubnyk, who finished with 32 saves. “He’s obviously a great goalie. He’s been outstanding for them for years. It’s always fun to score on a goaltender like that.”
The lead could have been larger but Dubnyk made tough saves on Pulock and Valtteri Filppula. Then the Wild tied it at one 38 seconds into the second as Mikael Granlund hit a vacated cage after some tic-tac-toe passing from Jason Zucker and Zach Parise lured Thomas Greiss from the crease.
But the Islanders went back ahead 1:23 later on a power-play one-timer from Toews. The pass came from the goal line from Pulock, who’d scored on two onetimers Saturday.
“We tried something different and I went down low,” Pulock said. “I was able to find Toews walking down and he made a good shot.”
Minnesota had a few chances to tie, but Jordan Greenway’s backhander late in the second hit the post and Greiss (26 saves) survived a couple of goal-line scrambles in the third, including at the end when the Wild put together a final push with their net empty.
“I was screening and the puck just bounced out in front. I thought I had it, but it hit the post,” said the massive 6-foot-6, 227-pound Greenway, from upstate Canton and a member of the 2018 U.S. Olympic team. “That was a good hockey team we just played. Overall they play a sound game.”
Now the Islanders, 9-1-2 in their past 12, head out on the road to Buffalo on Tuesday and Columbus on Thursday after one that didn’t get away.
“Huge commitment at the end. Guys are blocking shots with their legs, their ankles, their head. You name it, they are getting in the way,” coach Barry Trotz said. “You have to have a winning commitment. If you are just sort of in the way, that puck sort of just goes into your net. So when you’re all in, the whole group has been all in all year and we’ve been able to put a few wins together.”