Islanders ride Casey Cizikas' energy to win over Sharks
Oliver Wahlstrom #26 of the New York Islanders follows through on a shot during the first period of a NHL game against the San Jose Sharks at UBS Arena in Elmont, NY on Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022. Credit: James Escher
Casey Cizikas’ skating and energy stood out early as the Islanders seemed to start out a step slow. But his teammates finally matched their identity-line center’s example.
That was particularly true of Oliver Wahlstrom, who scored late in the second period and then early in the third as the Islanders topped the winless Sharks, 5-2, on Tuesday night at UBS Arena.
“I think what’s unique about us is we’re always even keel,” said Wahlstrom, who now has three goals in two games. “If we have a bad first period we come into the locker room as a group and we’re still calm and we change a few things and get back to our game.”
Brock Nelson and defensemen Noah Dobson and Adam Pelech each added two assists as the Islanders won their second straight with one match remaining on their season-opening, four-game homestand.
The Sharks, now led by former Rangers coach David Quinn, have lost their first five games for the first time in franchise history.
The Islanders outchanced the Sharks, 79-50.
“[Cizikas’] line, they definitely pulled us in,” coach Lane Lambert said. “We started them in the second period and they got us going. But, I think, even though our power play didn’t score tonight, the power play we had, we generated a lot of opportunities and that created momentum and we just kept going from there.”
The Islanders had four shots after Nico Sturm was called for holding Anders Lee’s stick at 6:36 of the second period. They went on to score three in the period.
“Our power play did a really good job,” defenseman Ryan Pulock said. “They didn't score but they were moving the puck around. They were getting chances and I think that just kind of brought us to life a little bit.”
Semyon Varlamov, starting his first game of the season after Ilya Sorokin stopped 22 shots in Saturday’s 7-1 win over the Ducks, made 27 saves. None was bigger than Varlamov using his paddle to deny Luke Kunin on a two-on-rush at 4:12 of the third period as Logan Couture exited the penalty box.
Wahlstrom, elevated to Nelson’s line with Lee, then scored his second goal to extend the Islanders’ lead to 4-2 at 5:24.
He had made it 3-2 with a blistering wrist shot from the high slot on a set play off Nelson’s offensive zone faceoff win over Steven Lorentz with 55.4 seconds left in the second period.
“It’s obviously nice,” Wahlstrom said of his third career two-goal effort. “It was a good summer and I’m just focusing on staying positive and not being too hard on myself and using my linemates, give-and-gos and finding space.”
The Islanders had several near-misses to start the second period. Cizikas, who in the first period had deked defenseman Jaycob Megna into a standstill on his way to the crease, raced up the left side and slid the puck to the crease with Cal Clutterbuck just not able to get his stick on it.
Clutterbuck was later denied on a breakaway and James Reimer (40 saves) got his stick on Kyle Palmieri’s try at the crease off Zach Parise’s feed from the left wall. Clutterbuck did score an empty-netter at 17:34 of the third period to clinch it.
Lee finally tied it at 1-1 at 10:03 of the second period with a one-handed deflection of Pelech’s shot from the left point. Parise’s tip of Dobson’s shot made it 2-1 at 14:48 of the second period. Sturm had opened the scoring at 12:50 of the first period and Evgeny Svechnikov tied it at 2-2 at 17:10 of the second period.
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.
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