Islanders 4, Canucks 3: Got the points, but barely

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The Islanders needed to win in Vancouver — home of the last-place Canucks — and they did but it was not pretty nor reassuring as they squeaked by with a comeback 4-3 victory over a team that was winless in its last 10 coming in.

Anthony Duclair continued his One Hot Road Trip with a pair of important goals, while a couple goals from the defense provided the go-ahead and then insurance they ended up needing to get both points.

Ilya Sorokin made 29 saves for his well-earned 16th victory of the season.

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Things started ominously when the Canucks opened scoring inside three minutes. Someone by the name of Max Sasson — no relation to the jeans brand for whom Ron Duguay sold his last thread of pride — scored his 10th goal of the season on a tic-tac-toe cross-slot passing play by Vancouver.

Thankfully, Duclair is alive and well and appears fully healed from last season’s major groin injury. The winger finished again from two identical spots to recent goals. The first tied the game at 1-1 from the right wing circle after a cross-slot pass by Tony DeAngelo. It’s good to see Duclair moving around to smart, dangerous places, getting fed, and burying them. With Kyle Palmieri done for the season for quite some time, this would be a welcome awakening.

But Evander Kane regained the Canucks’ lead, tipping in a point shot shortly after he was robbed by Ilya Sorokin on a clear-cut breakaway.

For a moment, it looked like Matthew Schaefer had tied it on yet another sweeeet play by the 18-year-old, but an easy challenge was upheld since he had stepped over the blueline just a beat before Simon Holmstrom carried the puck across. So instead, the Isles headed to the intermission trailing 2-1, despite a few more late chances.

Late in the second, and just when things were starting to feel dreadful, the Isles finally tied it on another Duclair re-run: This time he made the Isles power play look competent again, re-enacting his one-timer from the left low slot after another setup from Cal Ritchie.

That was at 14:34, and just over a minute later the Isles got the go-ahead goal that made it feel like balance with the Force had been restored against the league’s 32nd-place team. Ryan Pulock walked down the slot on a simple setup from Schaefer and wristed his second goal of the season to give the Isles a 4-2 lead.

Alas, the Islanders started the third looking like they wanted to promptly give the lead back. They survived an early Canucks push, however, which set them up to squander some 5-on-3 time.

After Drew O’Connor went off for tripping DeAngelo, Tyler Meyers made it a two-man advantage with an obvious crosscheck on Emil Heineman. Often, they ignore that blatant penalty to avoid creating a 5-on-3 opportunity (especially since O’Connor had a penalty complaint right before he was whistled), but the Canucks are in last place, so the officials act like they deserve their fate.

The Isles did okay with the 5-on-3, which got even more appetizing when Elias Pettersson broke his stick, but their passing was always just a bit off, and they never pulled a trigger in full stride. Right as O’Connor came out of the box, he had a breakaway stopped by Sorokin, but it was moot since play was called dead for a hand pass.

After the dust cleared, the Islanders finally started to look like they were playing an organized, disciplined game again. Sustained pressure and cycling from the top line led to a DeAngelo insurance goal setup by good work around the net from Barzal and Anders Lee.

The Canucks pulled goalie Kevin Lankinen with nearly five minutes left, which to my mind meant they should please the hockey gods by prioritizing attempts at a goalie goal or a Duclair hat trick.

But none was in the offing. The Isles missed a few openings, and Schaefer had a long try called for icing, then the Canucks worked the puck around the zone for a solid minute. It ended with a point shot deflected in by O’Connor to cut the lead to one.

Things remained hairy for the final 1:51 that followed, with Pettersson continuing to win every key faceoff and the Canucks creating traffic that tested every Gumby limb in Sorokin’s arsenal.

It was not pretty, but they got the regulation win, rewarding everyone who stayed up to suffer through it till 12:35 a.m. EST.