Scott Mayfield and Pierre Engvall scored early in the second period Thursday night for the visiting New York Islanders, who extended their point streak with a 5-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored late in the first period before Anders Lee and Noah Dobson added goals in the third for the Islanders, who are 3-0-2 in their past five games. Bo Horvat and Grant Hutton each had two assists, and Lee also finished with two points.
New York goalie Semyon Varlamov made 19 of his 24 saves in the third period. Varlamov faced just six shots in the first two periods, tied for the fewest shots allowed by the Islanders in the first 40 minutes over the past 21 years.
Jonathan Lekkerimaki scored his first NHL goal 2:40 into the game and Tyler Myers scored late in the third period for the Canucks, who have lost two of three following a three-game winning streak. Goalie Kevin Lankinen recorded 27 saves.
Lekkerimaki, playing in his second NHL game, scored on the Canucks’ first shot. He took a pass from J.T. Miller, went to one knee in the left faceoff circle and fired a shot under Varlamov’s stick arm.
The Canucks were outshot 9-2 over the remainder of the period by the Islanders, who finally tied the game on a power play goal by Pageau with 2:37 left. Lee, stationed to the right of Lankinen, took a pass from Oliver Wahlstrom and sent a nifty no-look pass across the crease to Pageau, who tucked a shot in the open left corner as Lankinen was caught leaning toward Lee.
Mayfield and Engvall scored their first goals of the season in the first 2:10 of the second. The Islanders won the opening faceoff before Mayfield’s shot from just in front of the blue line glanced off Miller’s stick and fluttered past Lankinen just 14 seconds into the period.
Engvall capped a flurry in the Canucks’ zone when Lankinen turned back a shot by Simon Holmstrom but could not control the puck before Engvall buried the rebound.
Lee scored with 8:18 left in the third, and Dobson collected an empty-netter with 2:06 remaining before Myers scored 40 seconds later.
–Field Level Media