Playoff contention is still a long way off for the Islanders. But they are finally playing playoff-worthy hockey.
The Islanders have won three straight in regulation for the first time – just their third, three-game winning streak of the season and first since Jan. 17-21 – after Sunday night’s 4-3 win over the Ducks at UBS Arena to conclude a 4-2-0 homestand.
"It’s great," Jean-Gabriel Pageau said. "It’s something we’ve been working on all year, trying to be consistent in our performance."
The Islanders (24-24-8), back at NHL .500 for the first time since Feb. 9, remain 18 points behind the Capitals – who they face Tuesday night in Washington – for the Eastern Conference’s final wild-card spot.
Ilya Sorokin made 39 saves for his fourth win in his last five starts while Kyle Palmieri scored twice.
Palmieri’s second goal, a one-timer for his eighth in 14 games after returning to the lineup, made it 4-2 at 17:25 of the second period off defenseman Scott Mayfield’s feed from behind the crease. John Gibson (25 saves) denied Palmieri his third career hat trick – one each for the Ducks and Devils – by reaching back with his paddle to stop a wide-open power-play chance from the left circle at 6:01 of the third period, leaving Palmieri to exclaim, "You’ve got to be kidding me."
Gibson had already kept the Ducks (27-25-10), who have lost four straight, within two heading into the third period by stopping Pageau’s shorthanded breakaway at 19:45. Isac Lundestrom, deflecting defenseman Hampus Lindholm’s shot, had brought the Ducks within 3-2 at 14:23 of the second period.
Adam Henrique’s goal with the Ducks skating six-on-five at 18:16 of the third period made it 4-3.
Meanwhile, circumstances conspired to have coach Barry Trotz start Mathew Barzal and Oliver Wahlstrom on a line together for the first time this season.
Barzal, in his second game back after missing six with a lower-body injury, normally centers the top line. But has been re-assigned, for now, to a third trio with Brock Nelson clicking so well with captain Anders Lee and Anthony Beauvillier and Pageau doing likewise with Josh Bailey and Palmieri.
Wahlstrom, a third-line fixture for most of the season, was back in the lineup after being a healthy scratch for Friday night’s 5-2 win over the Jets.
Hence, what Trotz still considers an experiment.
"Hoping it works," Trotz said before the game. "Just by putting it on paper doesn’t make it work. We’ll see if Wahlly’s ready for that. If Barzy’s ready. If it works, it works. If it doesn’t, we’ll just move on."
The trio produced a goal on its first shift as Barzal put the puck through his legs at the crease off Parise’s strong forecheck and Parise knocked the puck over the goal line for a 1-0 lead at 2:18 of the first period. Wahlstrom thought he had scored on the line’s second shift, trying to tuck the puck inside the left post at 4:59 and celebrating as if it was a goal. But Gibson reached back to stop the puck with his stick.
Defenseman Josh Manson tied it at 1 for the Ducks at 9:48 of the first period, skating past Clutterbuck and Ross Johnston to get to the net for his own rebound.
But the Islanders stretched it to a two-goal advantage in the first period’s final minute. Palmieri wristed a shot to the far post from the left circle with 28.2 seconds remaining and captain Anders Lee, with his seventh goal in four games, tipped in defenseman Ryan Pulock’s shot from the right point to make it 3-1 with 3.3 seconds remaining.
