SALT LAKE CITY \u2014 Finally, a comeback win.<\/p>\n
Finally, a real winning streak.<\/p>\n
Finally, some real hope that the Islanders can make a run at this thing.<\/p>\n
Mathew Barzal, whose parents were in attendance, celebrates after scoring the game-winning goal late in the third period of the Islanders\u2019 2-1 win over Utah Hockey Club on Jan. 11, 2025. NHLI via Getty Images<\/p>\n
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\u2019s game-winning goal with 1:25 to go in regulation.<\/p>\n
After a first half of the season in which the Islanders shrunk from resilience at nearly every opportunity, here it was in full bore.<\/p>\n
The Isles remain five points back of the last wild-card spot after Saturday\u2019s games, so there still is plenty of work to do for them to genuinely turn around their season. <\/p>\n
But for the first time, there\u2019s real reason to believe.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know what time of year it is,\u201d 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. \u201cIt\u2019s crunch-time, really. Kind of makes or breaks a team. Looks like we\u2019re trending upward.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is just three games, but that\u2019s more than the Islanders have strung together all season. <\/p>\n
Brock Nelson (center), celebrates with Anders Lee (back) and Adam Pelech (left) after scoring a third period goal in the Islanders\u2019 win over Utah Hockey Club. AP<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means a lot in a way that, when you look at the schedule [with] Boston, Vegas and then closing in Utah, we knew it\u2019d be a tough task,\u201d coach Patrick Roy said. \u201cAnd very proud of our guys.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marcus Hogberg made his second start of the season in place of Sorokin and stopped 21 shots \u2014 steady enough that the Islanders could leave with two points. <\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Marcus Hogberg, who played in place of the ailing Ilya Sorokin, makes one of his 21 saves during the Islanders\u2019 win over Utah Hockey Club. USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con<\/p>\n
Even so, the Islanders went into the last 20 minutes on their heels, with Nick Schmaltz\u2019s tip-in of Michael Kesselring\u2019s point shot 1:13 into the second counting for the difference.<\/p>\n
That was erased 3:36 into the third as the top line of Anders Lee, Brock Nelson and Barzal \u2014 which had dominated all night long \u2014 finally broke through, with Lee feeding Nelson to tie the game at one.<\/p>\n
After the Islanders crucially killed off Lee\u2019s penalty for goaltender interference at 13:32 of the third, the top line struck again with 1:25 to go in regulation as Barzal fired home the winner.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe got a great assist on the first one, he scored that one, he was around the net,\u201d Roy said. \u201cHe cut in front of the net so these are things that we need from him and he\u2019s a leader on this team. Tonight he came through.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anders Lee scuffles with Lawson Crouse (67) after crashing into Utah goaltender Connor Ingram during the Islanders\u2019 win. AP<\/p>\n
With his parents, Mike and Nadia, in attendance, it was some kind of salvation for Barzal, who\u2019s been struggling to feel like himself since returning from an upper-body injury last month.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was really frustrated after the first and second,\u201d Barzal said. \u201cI thought we deserved to have two, our line, for sure. I missed two two-on-ones [and] kinda let it affect me. Just reset going into the third and played a great third.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was salvation for the Islanders, too \u2014 just the second time all season they\u2019ve come back to win a game in which they trailed in the third period. <\/p>\n
And on a night where they would have dropped seven points back of a wild-card spot with a loss, it felt essential for more reasons than mere vibes.<\/p>\n
The vibes, however, sure don\u2019t hurt.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what we want,\u201d Jean-Gabriel Pageau said. \u201cAnd we want to keep building on [it]. We\u2019ve played a lot of good hockey and didn\u2019t get the results we want. Feels like it\u2019s starting to turn around and go our way right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
For months, the Islanders have been unable to string together victories, taking two steps backward for every step forward. Maybe, just maybe, they are putting that version of themselves behind them.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not as if the Islanders have solved every issue \u2014 going 0 for 3 on the power play made it 24 straight scoreless opportunities at five-on-four dating back over a month, for starters.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOn the ice from Long Island\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Islanders by Ethan Sears, a weekly Sports+ exclusive.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
But certainly, they think they\u2019ve found some mojo, with a coherent identity clicking into place and a rubber chicken mascot that might just be a talisman. <\/p>\n
There is a season-long seven-game homestand coming up once the Islanders get home from Utah. <\/p>\n
All of a sudden, the Islanders look well-positioned to take advantage. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SALT LAKE CITY \u2014 Finally, a comeback win. Finally, a real winning streak. Finally, some real hope that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":139726,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[1034,5,1951,159,4,2905,43,51,5290,232,5291,5289],"class_list":{"0":"post-139725","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-utah-hockey-club","8":"tag-brock-nelson","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-mathew-barzal","11":"tag-new-york-islanders","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-patrick-roy","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-utah","16":"tag-utah-hc","17":"tag-utah-hockey-club","18":"tag-utahhc","19":"tag-utahhockeyclub"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/114926109569992147","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139725\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}