scratched after taking warmups<\/a> due to a lower-back injury and called day to day \u2014 not only hung around with the current Stanley Cup favorites, but never trailed.<\/p>\n\u201cLike I said to [the team] before the game, I believe that if there\u2019s a team that could surprise them, it\u2019s us,\u201d coach Patrick Roy said. \u201cThe way we\u2019ve been playing, we\u2019re playing really good hockey lately.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matthew Schaefer and Ryan Pulock, asked to take on the matchup against Nate MacKinnon, Martin Necas and Artturi Lehkonen, hung tight, with the rookie continuing to prove he is up for any challenge. <\/p>\n
Ilya Sorokin was terrific in making 35 saves, standing up to numerous barrages around the crease to continue a brilliant run of form.<\/p>\n
Hanging onto a two-goal lead for nearly the entire third period after Lehkonen cut their lead to 5-3 and absorbing all the requisite pressure, the Islanders never caved. <\/p>\n
Again and again, they stopped Colorado at the blue line and forced the Avalanche back 200 feet.<\/p>\n
Simon Holmstrom battles for the puck during the Islanders\u2019 Dec. 4 win against the Islanders. Robert Sabo for the NY Post<\/p>\n
Even when Scott Mayfield took a tripping penalty at 16:42 of the last period, allowing the Avs to skate six-on-four, the Islanders promptly killed it off, and seconds later, Casey Cizikas sealed the game with an empty-netter.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s just desperation,\u201d Adam Pelech said. \u201cIt\u2019s tough. They got a ton of talent. Six-on-four, it\u2019s really a battle. You really gotta sacrifice, block shots, be in the right positions, be disciplined with your positioning. It was huge for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mathew Barzal, who has disappeared across portions of the last couple of weeks, including Tuesday\u2019s win against Tampa Bay, had his best game of the season, bar none. <\/p>\n
He was incisive, engaged and creative as ever.<\/p>\n
He pulled up and delivered a cross-ice feed for Anders Lee\u2019s one-timer that made it 2-0 at the 18:20 mark of the first \u2014 coincidentally, Lee\u2019s goal tied him with Nelson for fifth on the franchise\u2019s all-time goals list \u2014 then with the Islanders needing to claw back some momentum late in the second, he skated past two defenders and finished on his backhand to make it a 5-2 game.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was outstanding tonight,\u201d Roy said. \u201c\u2026 When Barzy plays well defensively, for some reason, it helps his rush and he gets the puck faster and gets into the rush and generates. That\u2019s how he scored the first goal, the pass across he made to Leesy. He had a strong game.<\/p>\n
Ilya Sorokin protects the net during the Islanders\u2019 Dec. 4 win against the Avalanche. Robert Sabo for the NY Post<\/p>\n
\u201cI will say this: You don\u2019t beat the best team in the NHL if everyone\u2019s not playing.\u201d<\/p>\n
After Valeri Nichushkin and Necas had cut a 4-0 lead to 4-2 with goals 1:25 apart midway through the second, Barzal\u2019s goal was the one the Islanders needed badly.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the second, Bo Horvat and Pelech had scored just 1:01 apart to double a 2-0 lead, both goals coming as a result of poor goaltending from Mackenzie Blackwood \u2014 Horvat\u2019s off a rebound, Pelech\u2019s from a shot from the left circle that should have been easily stopped.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOn the ice from Long Island\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Islanders by Ethan Sears, a weekly Sports+ exclusive.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
All four lines competed across both zones in an effort that saw Kyle MacLean net the fourth line\u2019s first goal of the entire homestand to open the scoring 5:56 into the game.<\/p>\n
The Avalanche, though, are never out of a game, and they were not out of this one.<\/p>\n
This is a win the Islanders can hang their hats on and, combined with Tuesday\u2019s win over the Lightning<\/a>, a win that will validate the self-belief they kept intact through a 1-3-1 start to this homestand.<\/p>\nEspecially if Drouin is out through this weekend, the Islanders are not out of the woods yet.<\/p>\n
But they are right in the mix in an Eastern Conference where just six points separate first place from 12th.<\/p>\n
And after Thursday, you would be silly not to take them seriously.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brock Nelson got his standing ovation. The Islanders got their two points. Maybe that wasn\u2019t how Nelson envisioned…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61606,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[32776,24061,9,11,6821,10,539,1558,319],"class_list":["post-61605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-brock-nelson","tag-colorado-avalanche","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-islanders","tag-new-york-news","tag-nhl","tag-ny-sports-minute","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}