The Vancouver Canucks got two goals and an assist from Kiefer Sherwood, and offence from throughout their lineup, as they scored four unanswered to beat the New York Islanders 5-2 on Wednesday night at UBS Arena. Still missing Elias Pettersson and Filip Chytil, the Canucks were fueled by the unlikely sources of Sherwood, Derek Forbort, Aatu Raty, and Teddy Blueger and grabbed a crucial two points in their pursuit of the final wild card spot in the West. They are now back to three points behind the St. Louis Blues.
The Islanders, meanwhile, had a brief 2-1 lead thanks to goals from Casey Cizikas and Anthony DeAngelo, but ultimately fell 5-2 and remained one point back of the Montreal Canadiens for a spot in the East. Here is your game recap.
Game Recap
The first period was mostly Islanders, but thanks to Thatcher Demko, it stayed 0-0. He stopped 10 shots and made three highlight-reel saves – two on former Canucks captain Bo Horvat – to keep the Islanders off the board. Both of Horvat’s chances were on 2-on-1s where he had to go post to post, with one of them looking eerily similar to the show-stopper he made against the New Jersey Devils in overtime, where he had to do the splits to stop Paul Cotter. The Canucks overall were a sleepy team in the first period, but Demko kept them in it and looked like the Vezina Trophy finalist from last season.
Unlike the first period, which saw zero offence, the second had the Canucks and Islanders combine for five goals and three lead changes. All the goals came from unlikely sources as Sherwood, Raty and Forbort provided the offence for the Canucks and Cizikas and DeAngelo responded for the Islanders. The Canucks had the 1-0 lead off Sherwood’s deflection, but the Islanders got a shorthanded tally from Cizikas to tie it up before taking their first lead, 2-1, when DeAngelo pounced on a rebound and outwaited Demko for his third. Then, it was the Canucks turn to respond, as Raty tied it at two before Forbort gave the Canucks the 3-2 lead in the final minute with a rising wrist shot over the glove of Sorokin.
The Canucks extended their lead to 4-2 a little over a minute into the third when Blueger scored his eighth on a similar shot to Forbort, just over the glove of Sorokin. After that, head coach Patrick Roy replaced Sorokin with Magnus Hogberg and the Islanders tried to cut into the Canucks’ lead for the rest of the period. They had two power plays, but couldn’t put anything more past Demko, who was solid again in this one, stopping 26 of 28 for his second win in a row. Sherwood added an empty netter for his third point of the night to seal it in the final minute, and the Canucks walked away with a 5-2 win.
What’s Next for the Canucks & Islanders?
Both teams are next in action on Saturday, as the Canucks will head to Columbus to face the Blue Jackets for the penultimate game of their six-game road trip, while the Islanders will be in Tampa Bay to face the Lightning.
