The New York Islanders are now on a four-game winning streak following their dominant win against the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday, October 23 and will look to continue that streak in Philadelphia on Saturday against the Flyers.
Six Islanders scored the teams’ seven goals on Thursday night: Tony DeAngelo, Emil Heineman, J.G. Pageau, Kyle Palmieri, Mat Barzal, and Simon Holmstrom. Heineman scored twice to complete the Islanders’ win.
It was Anders Lee who earned the first star of the night, assisting on three of the teams’ goals. Lee also tallied six of his own shots on goal.
David Rittich had his second start of the season in net for the Islanders. Rittich allowed two goals on 34 shots: a .941 save percentage. His season average is now .940.
The Islanders did allow a Detroit power play goal though, but it was only one of the five chances the Red Wings had. The Islanders were awarded 32 penalty minutes in total, but 20 of those came from two ten-minute game misconducts handed to Kyle MacLean and Scott Mayfield. The two skaters earned their penalties for protecting Matthew Schaefer after he was taken down by Mason Appleton. Isles Nation should feel content that the team is so willing to protect and fight for their star rookie.
While Schaefer did not tally a point, ending his point streak at six games, his presence was not missed on the ice. The defenseman recorded two official shots and one takeaway, but he was all over the ice. Schaefer recorded over 25 minutes in ice time on Thursday night and ended the game with a +2 rating. In an interview with Shannon Hogan, Barzal stated that he feels confident with Schaefer on the power play unit and on the ice as a whole. Barzal must feel relief having another spiffy skater on the team.
Holmstrom created the play for the first goal. Finding a breakout from the Islanders’ zone, the forward entered the Red Wings’ zone and passed the puck to Lee. With most of Detroit’s defense pulled to the left side of the ice, Lee found DeAngelo with an open lane. Detroit goaltender, Cam Talbot, looked lost on that shot, allowing the first goal of the game.
Bo Horvat found Heineman for his first goal of the game, taking the puck away on the left wall and beating the Detroit defense to the goal.
In the second period, Lee, once again, sent the assist over, but this time to Pageau. The clean wrist shot past Talbot was one of the crispest goals Pageau has seen.
Detroit was able to maintain some pressure, but a push up the ice from Barzal gave Ryan Pulock a shot to a very crowded net front. Pulock’s shot deflected off Palmieri’s skate and into the net.
Barzal wasn’t done yet. A fantastic effort by Lee to keep the puck in the zone left Barzal all alone in front of Talbot for a quick wrister glove-side.
The Islanders allowed a power play goal from Detroit to start the third period, but shortly after Heineman scored his second of the night, returning the five-goal lead to the home team.
For the Islanders’ final goal of the night, Lee took a shot that rebounded off Talbot’s pad, straight to Holmstrom, who was quick to beat the goaltender. And while Lee took a shot, he was eyeing Holmstrom the entire time, seemingly intended for the “shot” to be a pass.
Marshall Warren, the Long Island native, was called up by the team on Thursday night, but will make his NHL debut when the Islanders face off against the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday afternoon.
