Brock Nelson scores go-ahead goal in third to lift Isles past Blue Jackets

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The shorthanded Blue Jackets made the Islanders work for this win, to be sure. But the Islanders’ biggest victory may have been sustaining a concentrated effort coming off two emotional wins, the Thanksgiving holiday and a questionable second-period sequence that yielded two power-play goals.

“I guess it could be [tough] but it wasn’t,” Cal Clutterbuck said. “We went about our business. It was business as usual. I think it helps we’re a bit of an older group. I thought we started well and, honestly, we controlled most of the game. They got a couple of power plays at a weird time but I thought we did a good job.”

The Islanders couldn’t hold a two-goal lead but still extended their winning streak to three with a 3-2 victory on Friday night at Nationwide Arena, their 12th win in their last 16 games.

Brock Nelson became the first Islander to reach 10 goals this season as he lifted a shot just under the crossbar from off the right post for the unassisted winner at 6:10 of the third period.

Ilya Sorokin stuffed Johnny Gaudreau at the right post at 18:41 of the third period and finished with 24 saves for the Islanders (14-8-0). The goaltender stopped a career-high 49 shots just two days earlier in a 3-0 win over the Oilers at UBS Arena.

“It’s crazy how flexible and how quick he is,” Nelson said of Sorokin. “He’s never out of a play, those lateral plays.”

Sorokin also made 30 saves in a 3-2 overtime win in Toronto on Monday night.

It left coach Lane Lambert emphasizing a strong start to prevent any potential letdown off the last two wins.

“I thought we were good in the first period,” Lambert said. “We were moving our feet. We were on the forecheck. I give our guys full credit. They came to play.”

Oliver Wahlstrom, patiently moving to his right, blistered a shot past Joonas Korpisalo (21 saves) at 17:26 of the first period off Mathew Barzal’s feed. Simon Holmstrom’s quick pass off the wall for the secondary assist marked his first NHL point in his second career game.

“It’s a good play by [Barzal] and Holmer’s first point, too,” Wahlstrom said. “That was cool. That was the most important thing there.”

Jean-Gabriel Pageau made it 2-0 at 7:51 of the second period as he tucked the puck in at the left post after defenseman Noah Dobson blasted it off the backboards. It was his second power-play goal and third special-teams goal in the last two games.

The Blue Jackets (7-12-1), who finished their lengthy homestand 3-3-0, have eight players on injured reserve — goalie Elvis Merzlikins (hip), defensemen Adam Boqvist (foot), Nick Blankenburg (ankle), Zach Werenski (labrum) and Jake Bean (shoulder), and forwards Justin Danforth (labrum), Jakub Voracek (upper body) and Patrik Laine (ankle).

Yegor Chinakhov returned after missing one game with an upper-body issue and brought the Blue Jackets within 2-1 at 14:05 of the second period with a five-on-three power-play goal, snapping Sorokin’s shutout streak at 121:55. Clutterbuck was whistled for interference on defenseman Andrew Peeke at 13:37, simultaneous to Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech being called for slashing Boone Jenner. The second call seemed to be a little soft, and a slash on Nelson also appeared to be missed.

Kent Johnson tied it at 2 just 33 seconds after Chinakhov’s goal with a five-on-four power- play tally.

“Up 2-0 and playing a pretty good game and then a couple of minutes there where I don’t know if we necessarily agree with all the stuff that happened,” Nelson said. “You’re back in a tie hockey game. Good response by us to weather that.”

By Andrew Gross

andrew.gross@newsday.comAGrossNewsday

Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.