Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
NHL: New York Islanders at St. Louis Blues
The New York Islanders are gliding right along as they picked up their fifth straight win last night in St. Louis with a 5-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues.
The Islanders looked rather lackadaisical to start the game. Goaltender Ilya Sorokin had to make a number of saves in the first period. He made an aggressive stop on Blues forward Jordan Kyrou. Kyrou was in all alone on Sorokin who came to the top of the crease and made the stop with his outstretched left skate. Sorokin finished the night with 32 saves on 34 shots.
The Blues cashed in as a result of the Islanders sluggish start to the game. Islanders defenseman Alexander Romanov got caught puck watching and paid the price for it. Blues right winger Vladimir Tarasenko took a puck off of the boards and put it top shelf on Sorokin to give St. Louis the lead.
However, the Islanders managed to find their spark after the first period, tying the game up just 14 seconds after intermission. Forward Kyle Palmeri set up shop in front of Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington and tipped home a Noah Dobson missile from the point. Enter the Islanders power play.
Blues fourth line left winger, Alexey Toropchenko cross checked Jean-Gabriel Pageaa giving the Islanders a five on three power play. As the first penalty was expiring the Blues attempted to get it to Nikio Mikkola who came out of the box but was intercepted by Islanders defenseman Noah Dobson. Dobson dished it to Anders Lee who got it over to Brock Nelson for the finish. Nelson notched his fifth goal of the season and gave the Islanders the 2-1 lead.
The Islanders offense exploded with a four goal second period. Josh Bailey and Anders Lee your other goal scorers.
The Blues would do there best to fight back, but ultimately came up short. They had two goals waved off, preventing any chance at the comeback.
As for the Islanders? All smiles. They take on the Detroit Red Wings tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 p.m.
