Mathew Barzals game-winner with parents in attendance propels Islanders to third straight win
SALT LAKE CITY — Finally, a comeback win.Finally, a real winning streak.Finally, some real hope that the Islanders can make a run at this thing.The standings still paint a problematic picture, but the feeling around the Islanders has done a 180 after the team swept through a three-game road trip, beating Utah Hockey Club 2-1 on Saturday night at Delta Center on Mathew Barzal’s game-winning goal with 1:25 to go in regulation.After a first half of the season in which the Islanders shrunk from resilience at nearly every opportunity, here it was in full bore.The Isles remain five points back of the last wild-card spot after Saturday’s games, so there still is plenty of work to do for them to genuinely turn around their season.But for the first time, there’s real reason to believe.“We know what time of year it is,” Barzal said after a starring performance that culminated in slamming home the game-winner when the puck leaked out to him following a scramble at the crease.
“It’s crunch-time, really.Kind of makes or breaks a team.
Looks like we’re trending upward.”It is just three games, but that’s more than the Islanders have strung together all season.And after Saturday started with the revelation that Ilya Sorokin was unavailable due to illness and Alexander Romanov was out with an upper-body injury, coming home with a full bounty of points in hand feels like that much bigger of a statement.“It means a lot in a way that, when you look at the schedule [with] Boston, Vegas and then closing in Utah, we knew it’d be a tough task,” coach Patrick Roy said.
“And very proud of our guys.”Marcus Hogberg made his second start of the season in place of Sorokin and stopped 21 shots — steady enough that the Islanders could leave with two points.The difference between now and that Dec.
28 match in Pittsburgh was the defense in front of the Swede, which is playing more structured and mistake-free hockey than it has all season.Even so, the Islanders w...