Islanders beat Columbus and move into fifth place in division
Mathew Barzal of the Islanders scores a third-period goal against Elvis Merzlikins of the Blue Jackets at UBS Arena on Thursday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
This season started with much loftier expectations after back-to-back trips to the NHL semifinals. But given the obstacles, COVID-19 and otherwise, the Islanders have faced and where they’ve been in the standings, leap-frogging the Blue Jackets into fifth place in the Metropolitan Division attained an immediate goal.
“We aren’t where we want to be, but I think our main focus is keep climbing,” said defenseman Ryan Pulock, whose long-range, empty-netter capped Thursday night’s 5-2 win at UBS Arena. “Keep winning games. Keep trying to finish as high as we can. That’s our mindset right now. They were ahead of us and two big wins.”
The Islanders, who opened the scoring with goals 11 seconds apart in the first period, swept the home-and-home series after Tuesday night’s 4-3 win in Columbus.
A fourth consecutive playoff berth is still highly unlikely for the Islanders (30-27-9), who went 10-6-1 after playing a franchise-record 17 games in March. Any combination of 17 points lost by the Islanders or gained by the fourth-place Capitals, who hold the Eastern Conference’s final wild-card spot, will eliminate them.
“I think it just comes down to pride,” said Mathew Barzal, who snapped a 15-game goal drought with a breakaway to make it 4-2 at 9:52 of the third period. “We’re professionals here. At the end of the day, we’re building toward something that’s bigger than catching Columbus. We’re building toward winning a Stanley Cup. Whenever that time comes or we get that opportunity, we’re just trying to be ready for it.”
Semyon Varlamov made 30 saves as he started consecutive games for the first time this season after stopping 42 shots on Tuesday.
Kyle Palmieri gave the Islanders a 3-2 lead at 3:16 of the third period after the Blue Jackets (32-31-5), who have lost four straight and are in a 1-4-2 slide, rallied from a two-goal deficit. It was Palmieri’s seventh goal of the month but his first in eight games. Palmieri beat Elvis Merzlikins (31 saves) high and to the short side from the right circle.
The Blue Jackets rallied to tie the game as Emil Bemstrom and Justin Danforth scored within one minute, 39 seconds in the second period.
“Let’s just worry about win the day,” coach Barry Trotz said. “There’s a group of men who want to just play good hockey. We know that this start [to the season] has put us in a tremendous hole. We just want to play well. There’s no quit in the group. There hasn’t been all year. There has been, at times, maybe some frustration.”
Somewhat remarkably, Sebastian Aho and Oliver Wahlstrom’s rapid-fire first-period tallies were not even close to the fastest two goals in Islanders’ history. Anders Lee and Nikolay Kulemin set the team record — and matched an NHL record — when they scored three seconds apart late in a 5-3 win over the Penguins at Barclays Center on Nov. 30, 2016.
Aho wristed a shot past Merzlikins from the right circle at 8:39 off a feed from Brock Nelson, who extended his point streak to six games.
Incredibly, both Aho and his namesake, the Hurricanes’ Sebastian Aho, scored almost at the exact moment in real time. Aho’s goal came at 7:14 p.m. for the Islanders while the other Aho, a center, scored at 7:15 p.m. against the Canadiens.
“I heard about that, it’s pretty funny,” the Islanders defenseman said. “I don’t know what to say.”
Off the ensuing faceoff, Wahlstrom took Zach Parise’s feed on an odd-man rush after Barzal chipped the puck ahead. Wahlstrom, in his second full NHL season, set a career-high with his 13th goal.
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.
