Fresh off a win against the New York Rangers, the Vancouver Canucks travelled to Long Island for a showdown against the New York Islanders. The Islanders were fresh off a loss to the Detroit Red Wings and were looking to get back in the win column as they looked to continue their surprising season. Both clubs came into this game seeking a victory as they look to keep surprising doubters.
Game Recap
The first period was dominated by the Canucks. After both teams began with back-and-forth action, the Canucks began to take over. Jake DeBrusk and David Kampf started to work hard in the corner by the Islanders’ goal. DeBrusk poked the puck free to Kampf, and he beat Ilya Sorokin to put the Canucks up 1-0 nearly halfway through the period.
Almost two minutes later, Kiefer Sherwood stole the puck off of rookie sensation Matthew Schaefer and picked the top corner above Sorokin to put the Canucks up 2-0. Then, close to the end of the period, Vancouver was given a power play, and Sherwood finished off a great passing play with Tom Willander and Filip Hronek to extend the Canucks lead to 3-0 as the period ended.
The second period saw great play from both goaltenders. Thatcher Demko continued his great play from the previous game against the Rangers and kept the puck out of the net in the second frame. He made a spectacular save halfway through the period while the Canucks were on the penalty kill, where he denied a point-blank chance by Jonathan Drouin. Sorokin also found his footing after a bad first period and kept the Canucks off the score sheet during the second period.
Period three started very similarly to the second period, as no one was able to find the back of the net for the majority of the 20-minute frame. Both goaltenders were playing lights out as they tried desperately not to let in a goal for their team. It took until the final five minutes of the game for the Islanders to finally score as they had their goaltender pulled for an extra attacker.
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Anders Lee finished off a blind through-the-legs pass from Calum Ritchie to pull New York to within two goals with 5:05 remaining in the third period. The Islanders tried desperately to get a goal to cut the Canucks lead to one, but were unable to. Vancouver gathered the puck in the defensive zone and sent it to Sherwood, and he scored to complete the hat trick and give the Canucks their third win since the Quinn Hughes trade.
Vancouver now travels to Boston to play the Bruins on Saturday night, aiming to extend their winning streak to four games. The Islanders, on the flip side, will be going to Buffalo for a game against the Sabres to try to end their mini two-game skid.
