Marcus Hogberg of the Islanders celebrates with his teammates after defeating...

Marcus Hogberg of the Islanders celebrates with his teammates after defeating the San Jose Sharks at UBS Arena on Saturday. Credit: Jim McIsaac

The Sisyphean Islanders again began pushing their proverbial puck up their proverbial mountain.

They were good in a last-place matchup against the Sharks, playing connected, fast hockey that resulted in a 4-1 win on Saturday night in front of many of their luminaries and a sellout crowd at UBS Arena as Brent Sutter was inducted into the Islanders’ Hall of Fame in a pregame ceremony.

“It was special just being in the same room as all those Islanders and just the way Brent was talking about how much pride he had wearing the Islander jersey,” Mathew Barzal said.

It was their first win of a seven-game homestand that began with desultory losses to the Senators and Flyers, both ahead of the Islanders (18-20-7) in the Eastern Conference playoff chase. But that losing streak followed a three-game sweep of a road trip that marked their longest winning streak of the season.

So, yeah, Sisyphus. The puck goes up the mountain, the puck rolls down the mountain.

“When you play like this, it just goes to show you that you can go out there and do it,” said Brock Nelson, who moved past Sutter and Pat LaFontaine for fifth place on the Islanders’ goals list with 288 by cutting to the crease to make it 2-1 at 10:40 of the second period. “You have to have the confidence and now you string a couple together and then you get rolling.”

The Islanders still are seven points out of a wild-card spot with six teams in front of them.

“The intensity was equal [to past games],” Anders Lee said. “We definitely played better and were connected and the energy in the building was really good tonight.”

Coach Patrick Roy reunited Anthony Duclair with Nelson and Kyle Palmieri and Mathew Barzal with Bo Horvat and Lee. Marcus Hogberg, making his third start in four games (but with Ilya Sorokin healthy this time), stopped 18 shots. The Sharks (14-28-6) lost for the 16th time in 20 games.

Barzal’s backhanded breakaway against Alexandar Georgiev (27 saves) opened the scoring at 8:47 of the second period. Nelson scored 38 seconds after Barclay Goodrow’s rising shot beat Hogberg from the right wall. Defensemen Noah Dobson, with 26.2 seconds left in the second period, and Pulock, at 1:03 of the third, both connected from the right point.

Notes & quotes: Barzal moved past Sutter into ninth place on the Islanders’ all-time list with his 324th assist. “Sorry, Brent,” Roy joked ... Simon Holmstrom was activated off injured reserve after missing seven games with an upper-body issue. Hudson Fasching (upper body) was moved to IR ... Defenseman Alexander Romanov blocked a game-high five shots in 23:04 as he returned from a three-game absence because of an upper-body issue.

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