In Chicago, Anders Lee scored in the first period for the New York Islanders on Tuesday night, to stake them to a 1-0 lead.
“I liked our compete, and I liked our battle,” New York coach Lane Lambert said. “I thought going down a centerman early in the game, the guys showed a lot of resolve, guys who played in some unfamiliar areas. I thought they picked up the slack.”
Brock Nelson pushed the lead to 2-0 early in the third period.
“We just wanted to get on the attack, get on the offense,” Nelson said. “I thought we did a pretty good job of that, of dictating more of the play. Whenever you get a goaltender fresh or not, you’ve got to press him and get in there. I thought we did a pretty good job of getting some pucks to the net.”
Ilya Sorokin made 21 saves to protect the lead in a 3-1 win over the Blackhawks.
“The players have [done] a great job over the last three games,” Sorokin said. “I’ve had [easy looks at] pucks. So, it’s big work from our defensemen and forwards.”
Jonathan Toews was the lone striker for the Blackhawks, his power play goal cut the Isles lead to 2-1.
“I thought we came out a little bit flat,” Chicago’s Caleb Jones said. “It was a 1-0 game going into the third, and unfortunately, they got that one, but we battled back and got that one on the power play and we couldn’t find that other one. We’re in all these hockey games, we’ve just got to find a way to start pulling them out.
“I think we’re playing hard, we’re playing within our structure. Obviously, we’re going to keep trying to get better every day and improve little things, but we have to find a way to start winning these games. That’s how you become a really good team, when you can win more of these games than lose them.”
Zach Parise hit an empty-net goal with 14 seconds left in the game for the 3-1 final.
Alex Stalock made two saves in the early minutes of the first period, he left the game after a collision, with an apparent concussion.
“I think you have to,” Chicago coach Luke Richardson said. “I think they said they’re just going to let it settle for the night, see how he responds in the morning. The doctors say that’s normal. That’s what they usually do, and they get a better bead on how he’s going to come out of that. Right now, he’s probably out.”
Arvid Soderblom made 28 saves in relief.
“It was only three minutes in, so that makes it easier,” Soderblom said. “It’s hard always hard to come in like that. It was nice we had that five-minute power play so I could do some skating and get warm.”
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