ELMONT, N.Y. — The fifth-place Islanders. How does that sound?
Granted, it’s far from the expectations the team had at the beginning of the season after back-to-back trips to the NHL semifinals. But, given where the team has been in the standings, leap-frogging the Blue Jackets was an immediate goal for the Islanders.
The Islanders, who opened the scoring with goals 11 seconds apart in the first period, swept a home-and-home series with a 5-2 win over the Blue Jackets on Thursday night at UBS Arena to move into fifth place in the Metropolitan Division.
A fourth consecutive playoff berth is still highly unlikely for the Islanders (30-27-9), who went 10-6-1 after playing a franchise-record 17 games in March. Any combination of 17 points lost by the Islanders or gained by the fourth-place Capitals, who hold the Eastern Conference’s final wild-card spot, will eliminate them.
But Mathew Barzal said after Tuesday night’s 4-3 win in Columbus that moving up a rung in the standings was still important to the Islanders.
“I think it just comes down to being professionals and having pride,” said Barzal, who snapped a 15-game goal drought with a breakaway to make it 4-2 at 9:52 of the third period. “Fans pay money to come watch us play. We’re all getting paid. This is our job. We’re going to come out here, no matter what the circumstances, and work hard.”
Semyon Varlamov made 30 saves as he started consecutive games for the first time this season. He could be asked to start on back-to-back nights for the first time as an Islander against the Rangers on Friday night at Madison Square Garden if Ilya Sorokin (upper body) remains unavailable.
Kyle Palmieri gave the Islanders a 3-2 lead at 3:16 of the third period after the Blue Jackets (32-31-5), who have lost four straight and are in a 1-4-2 slide, rallied from a two-goal deficit. It was Palmieri’s seventh goal of the month but his first in eight games. Palmieri beat Elvis Merzlikins (31 saves) high and to the short side from the right circle.
Somewhat remarkably, defenseman Sebastian Aho and Oliver Wahlstrom’s rapid-fire first-period tallies were not even close to the fastest two goals in team history. Anders Lee and Nikolay Kulemin set the team record — and matched an NHL record — when they scored three seconds apart late in a 5-3 win over the Penguins at Barclays Center on Nov. 30, 2016.
Aho wristed a shot past Merzlikins from the right circle at 8:39 off a feed from Brock Nelson, who extended his point streak to six games.
Remarkably, both Aho and his namesake, the Hurricanes’ Sebastian Aho, scored almost at the exact moment in real time. Aho’s goal came at 7:14 p.m. for the Islanders while the other Aho, a center, scored at 7:15 p.m. against the Canadiens.
Off the ensuing faceoff, Wahlstrom took Zach Parise’s feed off an odd-man rush after Barzal chipped the puck ahead. Wahlstrom, in his second full NHL season, set a career-high with his 13th goal.
The Islanders were outshot 16-3 in the third period of Tuesday’s win but took the first 10 shots on Thursday, including Aho and Wahlstrom’s goals. The Blue Jackets’ first shot didn’t come until 9:20 of the first period.
But the Islanders couldn’t sustain their momentum and the Blue Jackets scored goals within one minute, 39 seconds in the second period to tie the game. Emil Bemstrom got to the crease to make it 2-1 at 8:47 and Justin Danforth beat Varlamov from the slot at 10:26.
Defenseman Ryan Pulock, shooting from his own zone, added an empty-netter with 56.7 seconds remaining.
