The Islanders haven\u2019t looked like the best versions of themselves in a while, and they didn\u2019t break that streak Thursday.<\/p>\n
What they did do was drag themselves over the line and into the NHL\u2019s Olympic pause, as Bo Horvat gave his team a late winner and a 3-1 victory over the Devils at the Prudential Center in his last game before flying to Italy to represent Team Canada.<\/p>\n
The break, to put it mildly, is badly needed, with the Islanders feeling the effects of a condensed schedule over the last month through which they barely managed to tread water.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t pretty at times, for sure. We know that. We weren\u2019t as good as we can be,\u201d Ryan Pulock told The Post. \u201cBut I think the important part when you know that is just about finding a way. You have to be a good team to find ways when maybe you\u2019re tired, maybe whatever it is, you dig deep. And I feel like this team has done that a lot throughout the year.\u201d<\/p>\n
There were points Thursday when it looked like they would finally succumb.<\/p>\n
Alternate captain Bo Horvat celebrates with teammates after scoring the go-ahead goal in the third period of the Islanders\u2019 3-1 win over the Devils on Feb. 5, 2026 at the Prudential Center. John Jones-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
The Islanders took on pressure, especially during the second period. <\/p>\n
They struggled to hit the net, putting just 14 of 45 attempts on goal. <\/p>\n
They ceded chances off the rush and managed the puck poorly against a Devils side without Jack Hughes and with far more reason to have their minds on the beach than the Islanders.<\/p>\n
Thanks to Ilya Sorokin and Adam Pelech, whose kick-save block on Lenni Hameenaho\u2019s one-timer at 11:07 of the second stopped a no-doubt goal, the Islanders still went into the third tied at one, with every chance at redeeming themselves.<\/p>\n
That was when they picked their game up and started to haul their way back into it. <\/p>\n
Ondrej Palat, Marc Gatcomb and Simon Holmstrom piled up chances and though the flow was still missing from both teams, the momentum seemed back with the visitors.<\/p>\n
Ilya Sorokin makes one of his 23 saves during the Islanders\u2019 road win over the Devils. John Jones-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
Like much of the night, the Islanders were not doing much with what they were given.<\/p>\n
Finally, with 3:27 to go, Bo Horvat mugged Nico Hischier off a faceoff in the Islanders\u2019 zone and backhanded the puck past Jake Allen for a 2-1 lead.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t a clean draw win and I saw it laying there and tried to battle as hard as I could to get it,\u201d said Horvat, who has five points in his last two games before making his Olympic debut next Thursday with Team Canada. \u201cSaw it had landed near the net. Allen tried to poke check. Thankfully I got around it, slipped it five-hole.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mat Barzal added an empty-netter for good measure, but it was only fitting that the game was won by Horvat.<\/p>\n
It was fitting, too, that just like for much of the last month, the Islanders gutted out two points with their meter looking dangerously close to empty for much of the 60 minutes.<\/p>\n
Casey Cizikas celebrates with teammates after scoring a second-period goal during the Islanders\u2019 road win over the Devils. AP<\/p>\n
Though Cal Ritchie provided a jolt of energy in his return from a lower-body injury, the Islanders played a perimeter game, at best, Thursday. <\/p>\n
Less generously, they managed the puck poorly, with Jonathan Drouin guilty of one of the season\u2019s most heinous turnovers toward the end of the first period.<\/p>\n
The fourth line, though, was terrific, with Casey Cizikas scoring the opener from his own rebound before Hischier\u2019s goal tied it at one for New Jersey. <\/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
JG Pageau had a great night at the dots and his line with Anders Lee and Holmstrom was up ice regularly.<\/p>\n
The top line, quiet through two periods, woke up in the third in a big way.<\/p>\n
It was enough. <\/p>\n
Just enough.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of these games [last year] we just kinda found a way to lose,\u201d Pulock said. \u201cAnd this year, we\u2019re finding a way to win.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026 When it goes right for you a couple times, you build some confidence in that and you feed off that and you remember being in those situations. You don\u2019t freeze under pressure, you take it head on. I feel like that\u2019s been a lot of big moments throughout this year where we\u2019ve gone at it head on and not sat back and hoped.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Islanders haven\u2019t looked like the best versions of themselves in a while, and they didn\u2019t break that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":448454,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5109],"tags":[3669,24653,201,5,277,1951,576,151,159,5185,5184,4,349,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-448453","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-jersey-devils","8":"tag-bo-horvat","9":"tag-casey-cizikas","10":"tag-devils","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-ilya-sorokin","13":"tag-mathew-barzal","14":"tag-new-jersey","15":"tag-new-jersey-devils","16":"tag-new-york-islanders","17":"tag-newjersey","18":"tag-newjerseydevils","19":"tag-nhl","20":"tag-ny-sports-minute","21":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116022427307642576","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448453","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=448453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448453\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}