Midway through the second period on Tuesday night, Islanders coach Lane Lambert sought a spark with his team down a goal. He changed up his top three forward lines, hoping it would do something.
Mission accomplished.
On the back of three goals in the last 10 minutes of the second period, the Islanders defeated the Sharks, 5-2, to win back-to-back games at UBS Arena for the first time this season — a feat that took them until the new year to accomplish last season — and move to 2-1 on the current campaign.
It wasn’t quite the performance we saw on Saturday, when the Islanders took apart Anaheim, but they proved themselves a step above the hapless Sharks, winless through five games this season.
After Lambert switched things up, moving Anthony Beauvillier to Mathew Barzal’s left, Zach Parise to the third line with Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Oliver Wahlstrom to the right of Brock Nelson, the offense started to come in waves. Lee was the first to score, redirecting Adam Pelech’s shot from the point at 10:03 of the second. Parise followed at 14:48, getting some of Noah Dobson’s initial shot with his skate to help the puck past San Jose goaltender James Reimer, luckily escaping without a review for a kicking motion.
That gave the Islanders a 2-1 lead, and though the Sharks got one back when Evgeny Svechnikov scored at 17:10 of the second, their momentum did not even last to the second intermission. Wahlstrom found the back of the net with a laser wrist shot off Nelson’s faceoff win at 19:04 to give the Islanders back the lead.
This time, for good.
Wahlstrom, the subject of constant questions and critiques, got the insurance goal with a slap shot past Reimer at 5:24 of the third — his third goal in two games. The Islanders did not need a heroic effort from goaltender Semyon Varlamov, who stopped 27 of 29 shots in his first start of the season. They smothered San Jose in the final 20 minutes. The penalty kill, which is now 12-for-12 this season, was again sublime. Cal Clutterbuck’s empty-net goal with 2:26 to go extinguished any remaining hope the Sharks might have had.
Though the Islanders looked to have the upper hand early, it was the Sharks who got on the board first. Nico Sturm cleaned up the garbage on a Svechnikov rebound at 12:50 of the opening period, during a run of play in which the Islanders struggled to clear the zone. It would take until the second — and Lambert’s shake-up — for the Isles to get their feet back under them.
For the rookie coach, it was a test passed with flying colors. The Islanders outshot the Sharks, 21-8, in the second period and played with relentless pressure in the offensive zone, adapting well to the switch. It helped make the difference during a game in which, toward the end of the first, the Islanders struggled to meaningfully out-skate a team against whom they are much better on paper.
There are bigger tests on the horizon for the Islanders. But for now, they have done what they needed in beating San Jose and Anaheim on home ice. They struggled last year to win games like these, in which they have a clear talent advantage, with consistency Ultimately, it cost them.
Even this early on, achieving that rudimentary goal can only be considered a good thing. As the Islanders spend more time under head coach Lambert, they should, in theory, grow better within his system. This is the time of year, then, in which they are most vulnerable.
So far, they are surviving just fine.