Islanders rout Canucks in perhaps their most complete game of season

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — In the end, there was no drama. No blown leads. The Islanders' statistical domination in shots and puck possession translated into perhaps their most complete effort of the season.

The Islanders shrugged aside allowing an early Vancouver goal and recorded a methodical 5-2 win on Thursday night at Rogers Arena, stretching their season-best point streak to five games (3-0-2) with only their fourth regulation win.

Semyon Varlamov needed to make only 24 saves for the Islanders (7-6-4) in their second match of a five-game road trip.

Teddy Blueger had an apparent goal off his skate immediately waved off for the Canucks (8-4-3) at 14:38 of the third period and the no-goal call withstood a review. That preserved a 4-1 lead for the Islanders after former Canucks captain Bo Horvat raced up the right wall, went around defenseman Quinn Hughes and found Anders Lee at the crease at 11:42 of the third period.

The Islanders’ shot advantage was 15-3 in the second period as they took a two-goal lead.

Defenseman Scott Mayfield took a not particularly hard shot from the right point  14 seconds into the period that deflected off a stick and had goalie Kevin Lankinen (27 saves) heading to his left when the puck went to the right to break a 1-1 tie.

Pierre Engvall made it 3-1 with his first goal of the season at 2:10, knocking in the rebound of Simon Holmstrom’s initial shot, with defenseman Grant Hutton earning his first career assist. He got a second assist on defenseman Noah Dobson’s empty-netter.

It appeared to become 4-1 at 8:36 of the third period, but the Canucks successfully challenged that Kyle Palmieri was offside, negating his own goal.

The Canucks took a 1-0 lead at 2:40 of the first period on the game’s first shot. J.T. Miller was given too much space to race up over the blue line and find Jonathan Lekkerimaki open in the left circle for his first NHL goal on a one-timer that Varlamov saw cleanly.

But the Islanders tightened and allowed only two more shots the rest of the period, one coming from the Canucks’ end of the ice.

Horvat, in his second return to Vancouver since the Islanders acquired him on Jan. 30, 2023, draw two penalties in the first period, including being tripped by defenseman Carson Soucy at 16:33. That led to Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s power-play goal at 17:23 as  Lee retrieved the rebound of Oliver Wahlstrom’s initial shot and sent a backhanded feed to Pageau to slam in.

Notes & quotes: Matt Martin had his first fight of the season, dropping the gloves with defenseman Vincent Desharnais at 14:03 of the second period . . . The Islanders recalled undrafted free-agent defenseman Travis Mitchell, 24, in his second full season of professional hockey, from their AHL affiliate in Bridgeport. Mitchell was a healthy scratch against the Canucks. Defensemen Adam Pelech (jaw), Mike Reilly (concussion) and Alexander Romanov (upper body) remain out, though coach Patrick Roy holds out hope that Romanov might make it back into the lineup by the end of this trip. “Bridgeport, Vancouver and Seattle and Calgary is quite a ways,” said Roy, listing the next two stops. “We just want to make sure we have a body here because Romy is still day-to-day. Until that status changes, we feel like we’re more comfortable to have someone here close to us.” The 6-4, 206-pound Mitchell has a goal and two assists in eight games for Bridgeport and has yet to play in the NHL . . . Forward Hudson Fasching remained a healthy scratch.

By Andrew Gross

andrew.gross@newsday.comAGrossNewsday

Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.