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For the first time in more than four months, the Islanders have a regulation winning streak — and each time, the second win came against the Jets.
After shutting out the Blue Jackets on Thursday, the Islanders, behind two goals from Josh Bailey and 27 saves by Semyon Varlamov, defeated the Jets 5-2 at UBS Arena on Friday night.
It had been 125 days from Nov. 6 to March 11 — a length of time that felt like eternity for this organization — since the Islanders won two in a row in regulation. In between, they suffered a crushing COVID-19 outbreak, an 11-game losing streak and a season that shifted tones from triumphant to fighting against the current to counting down to nothing.
In that sense, Friday’s victory — and every other one from now until this mostly joyless ride ends on April 29 — was pyrrhic. In the more literal sense, though, the Islanders can take some happiness from the long-awaited winning streak. At 23-24-8, they might be playing for pride, but pride isn’t worthless.
Nor is the fact that over their past two games, the Islanders have outscored their opposition 11-2 and maybe started to look a little bit like the team they want to be.
After Friday, Brock Nelson has scored in four straight. Anders Lee has a three-game goal streak, and has lit the lamp six times in that span. Noah Dobson has six assists in five games and is driving the power play, with a secondary nod on Nelson’s first period goal on Friday. Even Bailey has three goals in two games. Mathew Barzal and Zdeno Chara, too, are back in the lineup.
Even when the Islanders played the second period on Friday mostly in their own zone, they allowed just nine shots on net during those 20 minutes. And, thanks to goals from Lee and Bailey 40 seconds apart within the first two minutes of the period — both cleaning up rebounds in the crease — they went into the second intermission with a commanding 3-1 lead.
The Jets didn’t go down without a fight. Blake Wheeler made it a 3-2 game just 20 seconds into the third period, depositing a rebound into the Islanders’ net. But Bailey’s second goal, backhanded in from Adam Pelech’s rebound at 7:14, gave the Islanders a comfort zone. Cal Clutterbuck’s empty-netter with 4:44 to go in the game sealed the win.
Nelson scored his team-leading 23rd goal on a one-timer from the right circle at 6:23 of the first, with Anthony Beauvillier providing the cross-ice assist.
Though the Islanders played a generally strong first 20 minutes, Ryan Pulock and Adam Pelech were caught too far up ice in a sequence leading to a Winnipeg 2-on-0, which Kyle Connor easily put away to tie the score at one at 16:58 of the first.
If Thursday and Friday do mark some kind of a return to form, it is all but certainly too late to make any difference in how the season ends or how it is remembered. That, however, doesn’t preclude the Islanders from being happy with it.
Under no circumstances could the Islanders have seen this season lasting until the middle of March before they picked up two straight regulation wins at UBS Arena. That is reflected in the dwindling crowds and dropping ticket prices.
But when Maxine Nightingale blared following the horn, and the Islanders went to salute their fans, there was nothing left to do but embrace the victory they could get.
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