Simon Holmstrom scored the tie-breaking goal just before the midway point of the third period Wednesday night for the host New York Islanders, who lengthened their lead in the Eastern Conference wild-card race with a 2-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets in Elmont, N.Y.
After a lengthy battle for the puck deep in the Jets’ zone, Bo Horvat fed Matt Martin with a no-look pass from behind the net before Martin’s shot glanced off goaltender Connor Hellebuyck. Martin collected the puck and passed to Holmstrom, who sent a shot beyond Hellebuyck’s stick with 10:03 left.
Sebastian Aho scored in the first period for the Islanders, who won their second straight to move three points ahead of the idle Florida Panthers, who occupy the second wild-card spot in the East, and four points ahead of the idle Pittsburgh Penguins, who are in ninth place.
Goalie Ilya Sorokin made 25 saves.
Nikolaj Ehlers scored in the second for the Jets, who missed a chance to move past the idle Dallas Stars into first place in the Central Division. Hellebuyck recorded 20 saves for Winnipeg, which went 1-3-0 on a four-game Eastern Conference road trip.
Islanders left winger Ross Johnston and Jets left winger Pierre-Luc Dubois were each whistled for roughing with 4:07 left in the first to set up the 4-on-4 that yielded New York’s first goal.
Brenden Dillon, Ehlers and Mason Appleton connected on a tic-tac-toe exchange, but the puck eluded Appleton at the edge of the Islanders’ zone and was picked up by Brock Nelson. After racing up the right side of the ice, Nelson’s shot glanced off Hellebuyck’s stick and under Ehlers’ stick to Aho, who tucked a shot into the wide open left corner of the net with 2:25 left.
The Jets tied the score with a power-play goal early in the middle period and 66 seconds after Casey Cizikas headed to the penalty box for tripping. Kyle Connor, Josh Morrissey and Ehlers exchanged the puck from right to left before Ehlers darted past Kyle Palmieri into the left faceoff circle and sent a shot underneath Sorokin’s stick arm at the 4:30 mark.
The teams traded empty power plays over the first eight minutes of the third before Holmstrom scored his go-ahead goal.
–Field Level Media
